Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. Purchases New Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 330 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $104,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the third quarter worth about $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

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

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $356.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $326.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $300.04. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $356.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $661.45 billion, a PE ratio of 35.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on V shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Visa Company 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.