Allworth Financial LP Increases Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 79.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,587 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,614 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $37,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Visa by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Visa by 6.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,265,518 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,601,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Visa by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,597,969 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,188,862,000 after acquiring an additional 123,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,522,445 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,168,096,000 after purchasing an additional 670,590 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V stock opened at $356.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $661.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $326.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $356.74.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.73.

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.