Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s 5th Largest Position

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lowered its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 827,200 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 10,149 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 4.8% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Visa were worth $227,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unionview LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 1.5% in the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. St. Louis Trust Co increased its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the third quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 3,885 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.1% in the third quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 0.3% during the third quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 13,933 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,831,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. The trade was a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Compass Point began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price target for the company. Macquarie upped their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $317.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

Visa Stock Performance

V traded down $1.28 on Tuesday, hitting $311.91. 396,094 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,963,716. The stock has a market capitalization of $581.05 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day moving average of $289.96 and a 200-day moving average of $277.58. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $251.61 and a 12-month high of $314.50.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

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.