Forsta AP Fonden Buys 20,200 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 457,686 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,200 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.0% of Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Visa were worth $144,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 101.4% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $342.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $637.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $317.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $292.45. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $351.25.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho lifted their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.27.

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.