Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $4.44 Billion Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 3.5%, owning approximately $4.44 billion worth of the stock as of the latest SEC filing.
• A variety of institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Capital International Investors, have also expanded their stakes in Visa, indicating strong investor interest in the company.
• Visa's stock price decreased by 2.3%, closing at $331.98, amid analyst reports that have generally set positive price targets, with an average target of $380.84.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,675,220 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 434,217 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 0.8% of Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.68% of Visa worth $4,442,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Visa by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,526,660,000 after buying an additional 866,596 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $7,356,614,000 after acquiring an additional 241,057 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Visa by 18.0% during 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 during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 75,100 shares of company stock worth $27,643,224. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on V. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 target price (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Visa Stock Down 2.3%

V stock traded down $7.76 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $331.98. The stock had a trading volume of 8,793,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,237,998. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $257.92 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $353.36 and a 200 day moving average of $346.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $612.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.42, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. The business's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect 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 Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

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.