Dark Forest Capital Management LP Increases Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 103.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,195 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 5,686 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 0.5% of Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 7.7% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 411,210 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at about $69,000. Passumpsic Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the third quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 9,137 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,512,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 101.5% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 44,984 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,368,000 after acquiring an additional 22,658 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total value of $3,020,792.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $188,186.28. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.84.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $331.74 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $339.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $321.41. The company has a market cap of $616.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

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.