Barings LLC Purchases 2,361 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Barings LLC raised its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 45.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,552 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Siligmueller & Norvid Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at $844,000. Darden Wealth Group Inc grew its holdings in Visa by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Darden Wealth Group Inc now owns 1,633 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Visa by 73.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,010,000 after purchasing an additional 13,635 shares during the period. Isthmus Partners LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $568,000. Finally, Coyle Financial Counsel LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $397,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.43.

Visa Trading Up 0.6%

Visa stock opened at $320.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $582.49 billion, a PE ratio of 30.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $336.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $338.95. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $299.00 and a one year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.14%.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.