Fred Alger Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,047,921 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,606 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 1.6% of Fred Alger Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Fred Alger Management LLC owned 0.06% of Visa worth $331,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Visa by 17,018.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,248,079,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $349.83 on Thursday. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $337.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $325.80. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $649.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,208 shares of company stock worth $48,905,978 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.