Centre Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 13,837 Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Centre Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 13,837 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $4,849,000.

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

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% 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 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of V traded up $3.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $365.43. 8,725,642 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,023,748. The company has a market cap of $674.28 billion, a PE ratio of 36.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $369.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $343.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $333.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on V. Macquarie lowered their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $366.13.

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.