Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Maple Capital Management Inc.

Maple Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 37.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,490 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in Visa by 6.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,702,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,265,518 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,601,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,549 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,597,969 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,188,862,000 after acquiring an additional 123,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,522,445 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,168,096,000 after purchasing an additional 670,590 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on V. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $363.33 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $364.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $333.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $305.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $674.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.63, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released 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%. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

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.