Bamco Inc. NY Acquires 5,600 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Bamco Inc. NY boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 171,506 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the quarter. Bamco Inc. NY's holdings in Visa were worth $54,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Visa by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,079,682 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,292,321,000 after purchasing an additional 14,778 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 16,600 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,246,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 64,287 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $20,317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Market Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of V stock traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $348.28. 3,429,903 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,223,001. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $337.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $325.63. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54. The stock has a market cap of $647.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.51 earnings per share. On average, 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 will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on V. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $362.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by 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.