Martin Currie Ltd. Acquires 17,324 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Martin Currie Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 12.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153,411 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,324 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 2.1% of Martin Currie Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Martin Currie Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $54,469,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $57,711,249,000 after buying an additional 1,461,575 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,253,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,631 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,654,189,000 after acquiring an additional 726,299 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in Visa by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after acquiring an additional 955,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 3.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,675,220 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,442,157,000 after acquiring an additional 434,217 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,117. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 21,870 shares of company stock worth $7,467,233 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V opened at $323.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $299.00 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The stock has a market cap of $589.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50 day moving average is $340.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $348.06.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.00.

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.