Visa Inc. $V Shares Purchased by Swedbank AB

Key Points

• Swedbank AB increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 3.8%, owning approximately 2,355,219 shares worth around $825 million, making it the bank's 14th largest investment.
• Visa's CEO, Ryan Mcinerney, sold 8,630 shares in a significant reduction, with the transaction totaling over $3 million, lowering his ownership by 94.14%.
• Recent analyst reports set new price targets for Visa, with UBS raising its target to $415 and Barclays to $408, alongside a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Swedbank AB boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,355,219 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 85,358 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.1% of Swedbank AB's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Swedbank AB owned about 0.13% of Visa worth $825,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 9.6% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 2,011,535 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $704,010,000 after purchasing an additional 175,770 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 2.0% in the first quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 31,912 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $11,184,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in Visa by 5.3% in the first quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 148,649 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $52,077,000 after purchasing an additional 7,456 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 30.1% in the first quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,938 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $679,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the period. Finally, eCIO Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at about $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price target (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 price target (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.96.

Visa Stock Up 1.5%

V stock opened at $343.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $629.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.52, a PEG ratio of 2.25 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 Inc. has a one year low of $268.23 and a one year high of $375.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $347.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $347.03.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current 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. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding V? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.