Novem Group Buys Shares of 8,445 Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Novem Group bought a new stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,445 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $2,669,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Riverstone Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,000. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $306,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $57,727,000 after purchasing an additional 30,185 shares during the period. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, King Wealth Management Group increased its position in shares of Visa by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $23,663,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE V opened at $366.96 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $677.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $340.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $330.68. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $369.15. 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 released 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. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is 23.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Macquarie lowered their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $362.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282. Company 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.

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