Boston Common Asset Management LLC Buys 14,202 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 16.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 100,531 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 14,202 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.1% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $35,232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in Visa by 377.3% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock traded up $3.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $365.43. The company had a trading volume of 8,725,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,023,744. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $674.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $342.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $333.16. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $369.15.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is 23.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Macquarie lowered 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $366.13.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $194,931. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.