Primecap Management Co. CA Acquires 374,263 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,247,543 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 374,263 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.2% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Primecap Management Co. CA owned 0.23% of Visa worth $1,508,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,518,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,452,949,000 after buying an additional 1,677,088 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Visa by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,847,953,000 after buying an additional 1,651,954 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Visa by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,253,245,000 after buying an additional 1,067,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in Visa in the first quarter worth $373,240,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $320.78 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $341.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $348.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $584.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.87. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $299.00 and a 52-week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 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 analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of Visa stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total value of $3,575,385.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,117. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 21,870 shares of company stock worth $7,467,233 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.