Visa Inc. $V Shares Bought by NFJ Investment Group LLC

Key Points

• NFJ Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 70.6%, owning 58,360 shares valued at approximately $20.45 million as per its recent SEC filing.
• Institutional investors hold 82.15% of Visa's stock, with notable investments from GAMMA Investing LLC, which raised its stake by over 38,416%.
• Visa announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, equating to an annualized yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 23.05%.

NFJ Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 70.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,360 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 24,158 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $20,454,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Down 2.3%

V traded down $7.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $343.02. 5,447,231 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,060,212. The firm's fifty day moving average is $348.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $347.22. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $268.23 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $628.67 billion, a PE ratio of 33.50, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. Visa's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on V shares. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,293 shares of company stock valued at $8,114,295. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.