Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,423,994 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 133,214 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.1% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Visa worth $1,550,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 4.6% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $1,955,403,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V traded up $4.48 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $358.70. The company had a trading volume of 3,702,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,847,691. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The business's 50 day moving average price is $354.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $340.67. The firm has a market cap of $661.86 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.51 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI started coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.84.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total value of $3,127,077.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $194,807.49. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 92,478 shares of company stock valued at $33,717,733 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.