Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Increases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 4.4% during the second quarter, owning 504,754 shares now valued at approximately $179 million.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.98 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and showing a revenue increase of 14.3% year-over-year to $10.17 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59, which represents an annualized dividend of $2.36 and a yield of 0.7% as of the last payout date.

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 504,754 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 21,074 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.6% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in Visa were worth $179,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of V. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth about $27,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth about $54,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Mizuho raised Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note 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 given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.96.

Visa Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE V traded up $3.89 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $342.07. 13,657,860 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,986,314. The stock has a market capitalization of $626.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company's 50 day moving average price is $345.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $346.41. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $268.23 and a 12 month high of $375.51.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.