UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Buys 1,723,785 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,321,754 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 1,723,785 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.0% of UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.72% of Visa worth $4,210,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,927 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,557,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 949 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Spring Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC now owns 23,492 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $7,424,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 2,967 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $938,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 137.7% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 4,761 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,505,000 after buying an additional 2,758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on V shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $362.38.

Visa Stock Up 0.7%

V opened at $367.76 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $339.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $330.43. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $369.15. The stock has a market cap of $678.58 billion, a PE ratio of 37.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The company's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282 over the last quarter. Company 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.

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