Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Purchased by Pictet North America Advisors SA

Pictet North America Advisors SA boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,142 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 2.2% of Pictet North America Advisors SA's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Pictet North America Advisors SA's holdings in Visa were worth $22,479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 1,689,926 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 866,596 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,356,614,000 after buying an additional 241,057 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock traded up $4.48 on Friday, hitting $358.70. The stock had a trading volume of 3,702,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,855,011. The stock has a market cap of $661.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company's 50 day moving average price is $355.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $340.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.51 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Citigroup began coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $3,127,077.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $194,807.49. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 92,478 shares of company stock worth $33,717,733 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.