Castleark Management LLC Grows Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Castleark Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 17.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 206,615 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 30,510 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 2.3% of Castleark Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Castleark Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $65,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $12,729,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,926 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Visa by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,526,660,000 after buying an additional 866,596 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Visa by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,356,614,000 after purchasing an additional 241,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Visa by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on V. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $362.38.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $366.96 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day moving average is $340.06 and its 200 day moving average is $330.68. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $369.15. The company has a market capitalization of $677.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.99, 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 (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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 $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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