Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Purchased by Criterion Capital Advisors LLC

Criterion Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,398 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 1.7% of Criterion Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Visa by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,943,773 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,973,432,000 after buying an additional 596,950 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Visa by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,895,788 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,659,169,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323,238 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $3,895,015,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 2.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,272,846,000 after purchasing an additional 374,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Visa by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,824,113 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,078,408,000 after purchasing an additional 85,123 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Visa stock traded down $4.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $262.47. 13,957,270 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,762,266. The firm has a market capitalization of $480.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $273.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.68 and a 1-year high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Macquarie raised their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.56.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total value of $7,009,954.95. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,402 shares of company stock valued at $9,559,382. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Visa

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.