Beck Bode LLC Takes $1.50 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Beck Bode LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,754 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $1,502,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions 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 valued at $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 43.1% during the fourth 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. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 64,287 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $20,317,000 after buying an additional 1,965 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on V. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $362.38.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V traded up $1.07 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $348.67. 3,864,472 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,225,088. The business's 50 day moving average price is $337.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $325.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $647.75 billion, a PE ratio of 35.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $366.54.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 143,208 shares of company stock worth $48,905,978. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.