Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Purchases 344 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 74,167 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of V. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 545.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC now owns 142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $269.78 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $279.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $495.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.14 and a 52 week high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.18 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $296.00 to $306.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $298.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,965 shares of company stock worth $5,256,352. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.