Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Takes $8.06 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 25,510 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $8,062,000. Visa accounts for about 1.0% of Mufg Securities Americas Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,729,901,000 after buying an additional 1,689,926 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Visa by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $7,526,660,000 after buying an additional 866,596 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,356,614,000 after buying an additional 241,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake 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 worth $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on V. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Macquarie dropped their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.38.

Visa Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $356.13 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $337.30 and its 200 day moving average is $328.04. The company has a market cap of $661.61 billion, a PE ratio of 35.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

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.