Smith Group Asset Management LLC Boosts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 19.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,595 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 142,202,830 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $39,685,966,000 after acquiring an additional 788,908 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,570,391 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,578,025,000 after purchasing an additional 626,618 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Visa by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,863,796 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,264,508,000 after purchasing an additional 968,008 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 2.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,610,590 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,833,981,000 after purchasing an additional 345,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Visa by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,416,394 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,783,857,000 after buying an additional 312,286 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $281.96 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.03 and a fifty-two week high of $293.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $279.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $273.26. The stock has a market cap of $515.69 billion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $318.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Visa from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Macquarie reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $322.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.19.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.