GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. Raises Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1,215.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 168,786 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 155,957 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 2.9% of GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC.’s holdings in Visa were worth $43,943,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257,605 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,073,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,927,122,000 after purchasing an additional 763,505 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Visa by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,272,846,000 after purchasing an additional 374,489 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 1.5% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,542,434 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,734,835,000 after purchasing an additional 108,280 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.4% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,277,500 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,224,327,000 after buying an additional 19,323 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $268.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $493.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $278.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $265.42. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.14 and a twelve month high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,724 shares of company stock worth $3,278,698. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Company 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.