Guinness Asset Management LTD Raises Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 148,649 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,456 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.0% of Guinness Asset Management LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Visa were worth $52,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,452,949,000 after buying an additional 1,677,088 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Visa by 4.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,654,189,000 after buying an additional 726,299 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after purchasing an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,321,754 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,210,207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,785 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $343.28 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $347.41 and a 200 day moving average of $347.03. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $268.23 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $629.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.52, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The firm’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup started coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.