Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Purchases 121,200 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,725,740 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 121,200 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.0% of Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.'s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.09% of Visa worth $545,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $335.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,451,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,211,210. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $623.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.82, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $338.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.66. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 currently 23.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $358.17.

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.