BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd Takes Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,073 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% during 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 buying an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Visa by 17,018.7% in 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 buying an additional 3,926,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $2,978,899.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $185,576.46. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 143,208 shares of company stock worth $48,905,978. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $348.49. 1,650,798 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,752,563. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $337.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $325.48. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The company has a market cap of $647.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.14, a PEG 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 (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.51 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Macquarie cut their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $362.38.

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.