Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 274,132 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 6,446 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 0.9% of Townsquare Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $75,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 45,189.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,758,505 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,683,101,000 after acquiring an additional 9,736,958 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4,412.3% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,072,467 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,119,725,000 after purchasing an additional 4,166,905 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,702,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,518 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $511,321,000. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Visa by 26,951.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,587,944 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $416,788,000 after buying an additional 1,582,074 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Citigroup upped their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. This represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of V stock opened at $311.82 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $251.61 and a 1 year high of $314.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $290.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $277.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $580.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.25%.

Visa 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.