Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires 25,748 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 33.0% in Q1, holding a total of 103,854 shares valued at $36.4 million.
• Several institutional investors are boosting their positions in Visa, with Vanguard Group and Northern Trust Corp recording increases of 1.1% and 4.0%, respectively.
• Visa recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 23.05%.

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 33.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 103,854 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 25,748 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $36,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after buying an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Visa by 4.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,654,189,000 after buying an additional 726,299 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after buying an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after buying an additional 955,392 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,321,754 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,210,207,000 after buying an additional 1,723,785 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 target price (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.96.

Visa Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE V traded up $5.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $343.28. The stock had a trading volume of 5,152,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,970,029. The business's 50 day moving average is $347.41 and its 200-day moving average is $347.03. The company has a market cap of $629.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.52, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $268.23 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The business's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.