Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Buys 296 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 19,614 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 296 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 0.9% of Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,119,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of V. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 116,608.6% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,504,130 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,090,978,000 after purchasing an additional 24,483,134 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $3,067,232,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Visa by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 51,122,866 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,621,287,000 after buying an additional 5,864,340 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 17,418.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,737,229 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,233,338,000 after buying an additional 4,710,188 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Visa by 3.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 72,897,112 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $16,435,339,000 after buying an additional 2,572,159 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $298.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,965 shares of company stock worth $5,256,352. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $269.78 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $495.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.04, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $279.58 and its 200 day moving average is $263.35. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.14 and a 12 month high of $290.96.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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.