Northern Trust Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 0.8% of Northern Trust Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,771,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $23,663,000 after purchasing an additional 6,172 shares during the period. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $10,163,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $616,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $358.17.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V opened at $335.50 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $338.42 and its 200-day moving average is $322.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $623.28 billion, a PE ratio of 33.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Visa

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.