DNB Asset Management AS Lowers Position in Visa Inc. $V

DNB Asset Management AS lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,150,314 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 65,702 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 1.5% of DNB Asset Management AS’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. DNB Asset Management AS owned about 0.06% of Visa worth $392,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa during the second quarter valued at $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,769,936,000 after acquiring an additional 2,429,996 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Visa by 110.4% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,396,930,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075,289 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 0.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $57,711,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 2.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,253,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,631 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $316.65 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $299.00 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $333.60 and its 200 day moving average is $338.23. The company has a market cap of $574.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.79.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.90 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.75 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on V. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. HSBC raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $391.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.