B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Acquires 17,195 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG raised its Visa position by 2.0% in Q4, buying 17,195 shares to hold 883,497 shares (about 2.7% of its portfolio) worth roughly $310.27 million.
• Visa beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $3.17 (vs. $3.14) and revenue up 14.6%, reporting a 50.23% net margin and 61.74% ROE while trading at a market cap near $562.1 billion and a P/E of ~29.05.
• Institutional investors own about 82.15% of Visa, and analysts maintain a consensus "Buy" with an average price target of $387.79.

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 883,497 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 17,195 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 2.7% of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in Visa were worth $310,273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $8,463,484,000 after purchasing an additional 193,288 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,114,674 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,475,403,000 after buying an additional 530,995 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,458,913 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,253,224,000 after buying an additional 399,845 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,913,505 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,067,032,000 after buying an additional 1,298,435 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,418,387 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,873,794,000 after buying an additional 108,264 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $309.66 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $309.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $328.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $562.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.80.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The business had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.75 earnings per share. Visa's revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. The trade was a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $411.00 price target (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $387.79.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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