Martin Currie Ltd. Has $45.47 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Martin Currie Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 193.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 143,859 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 94,913 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.7% of Martin Currie Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Martin Currie Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $45,465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC raised its stake in Visa by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $724,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its position in Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. increased its stake in Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 7,283 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total value of $13,395,133.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,991,249.33. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lifted their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $342.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $636.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.54, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $366.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $343.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $315.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid 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 0.69%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

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.