S&CO Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

S&CO Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 13.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,335 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 2,709 shares during the period. S&CO Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Sonoma Allocations LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth $710,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,241,348 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $438,196,000 after purchasing an additional 21,401 shares during the period. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 95,150 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,783,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its position in Visa by 2.6% in the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $198,596,000 after purchasing an additional 14,581 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Visa by 24.1% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $281,045,000 after purchasing an additional 159,906 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $325.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $590.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $338.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $340.57.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total transaction of $707,919.96. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total transaction of $3,661,152.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This represents a 52.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie Infrastructure reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Evercore set a $380.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $392.29.

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.