Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Takes Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,532 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $1,180,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in Visa by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 4,112 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,070,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its position in Visa by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 60,003 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $15,622,000 after purchasing an additional 2,504 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Evolution Advisers Inc. now owns 381 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $421,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in Visa by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,168,130 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $564,473,000 after acquiring an additional 16,599 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.2 %

V traded down $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $274.58. 6,840,359 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,951,953. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business's 50 day moving average is $279.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.33. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.14 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96. The stock has a market cap of $504.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.68, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $302.58.

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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