Marshall Investment Management LLC Buys New Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 737 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Visa by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $566,153,000 after purchasing an additional 199,440 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in Visa by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $228,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Visa by 5.0% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 384,710 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $105,860,000 after acquiring an additional 18,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 8.7% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 437,486 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $120,287,000 after acquiring an additional 35,100 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $349.46 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $329.81 and its 200-day moving average is $303.29. The stock has a market cap of $649.21 billion, a PE ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $357.15.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on V shares. Macquarie raised their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

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.