Chancellor Financial Group WB LP Invests $3.09 Million in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Chancellor Financial Group WB LP acquired a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,784 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $3,092,000. Visa comprises 2.5% of Chancellor Financial Group WB LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Visa by 4.6% during 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 worth $12,729,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,926 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in Visa by 3.8% during 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 period. Capital World Investors grew its position 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 worth $7,356,614,000 after purchasing an additional 241,057 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Visa by 18.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.8%

V stock traded up $3.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $365.43. 8,725,642 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,023,744. The company has a market capitalization of $674.28 billion, a PE ratio of 36.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $369.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $342.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $333.16.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for 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 revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $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 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on V shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, March 21st. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $366.13.

About Visa

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.