UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC Acquires 955,392 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• UBS Asset Management increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 7.2%, acquiring over 955,000 shares to own approximately 14.3 million shares overall.
• Analysts have set a new average target price of $385.96 for Visa, with several firms maintaining "buy" ratings and citing strong earnings performance that exceeded expectations.
• Visa's recent quarterly earnings showed a profit of $2.98 per share on revenues of $10.17 billion, reflecting a 14.3% year-over-year increase.

UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 955,392 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.3% of UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned approximately 0.77% of Visa worth $5,003,569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at $54,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of V stock traded up $5.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $343.28. 5,152,779 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,466,840. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $347.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $347.07. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $268.23 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $629.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The company's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on V. Mizuho raised Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Macquarie raised their target price on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.96.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction 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. Corporate 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.