Rafferty Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 610,517 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,546 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $192,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 377.3% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total transaction of $5,259,207.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,377,671.52. The trade was a 35.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 $194,931. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of V opened at $356.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $661.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $337.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $328.23.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on V. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.38.

Visa Profile

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.