Northern Trust Corp Acquires 2,785,707 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.8% of Northern Trust Corp's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.98% of Visa worth $5,771,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its stake in Visa by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 968 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $551,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in shares of Visa by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,485,091 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $469,348,000 after acquiring an additional 17,613 shares in the last quarter. Criteria Caixa S.A.U. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $18,229,000. Finally, Mendel Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 3,516 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE V opened at $335.50 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $623.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.82, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $366.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $338.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $322.98.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total transaction of $13,395,133.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,991,249.33. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total transaction of $3,020,792.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $188,186.28. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on V. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $383.00 price objective (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $358.17.

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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