Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Boosts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 183,929 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.9% of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $51,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $3,895,015,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 17,418.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,737,229 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,233,338,000 after buying an additional 4,710,188 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 14,306.3% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,500,270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $390,595,000 after buying an additional 1,489,856 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,895,788 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,659,169,000 after buying an additional 1,323,238 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 139.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,185,077 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $568,885,000 after buying an additional 1,272,211 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total value of $7,009,954.95. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $4,959,322.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Macquarie upped their price target on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.44.

Visa Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $265.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $486.02 billion, a PE ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.68 and a 52-week high of $290.96. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $272.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.01.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

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.