Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Purchased by Clark Capital Management Group Inc.

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 382,018 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 31,767 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 0.8% of Clark Capital Management Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $120,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after buying an additional 3,926,049 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Visa by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $349.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $337.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.80. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $366.54. The firm has a market cap of $649.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on V. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seven research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $362.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 143,208 shares of company stock valued at $48,905,978 over the last three months. Company 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.

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