Ninepoint Partners LP Increases Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ninepoint Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 20.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,109 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the period. Ninepoint Partners LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Visa by 10.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $566,153,000 after buying an additional 199,440 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $660,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,855 shares of company stock valued at $35,165,827 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $331.72 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $337.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $310.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $616.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

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.