Acadian Asset Management LLC Acquires 473,978 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 50.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,404,307 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 473,978 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.0% of Acadian Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Visa worth $498,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of V. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 82.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,117. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,897 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,561. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on V shares. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 target price on Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.00.

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:V opened at $335.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $343.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $348.84. The company has a market capitalization of $615.66 billion, a PE ratio of 32.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.87. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.11%.

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.