Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $351.85 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,114,008 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 95,685 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.7% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.06% of Visa worth $351,852,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926,049 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Visa by 4.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Visa by 6.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after buying an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 0.8 %

V stock opened at $334.35 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $338.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $311.61. The company has a market capitalization of $621.15 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 103,855 shares of company stock valued at $35,165,827. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on V shares. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note 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 lifted their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.