Bridgewater Associates LP Lowers Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Bridgewater Associates LP trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 23.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 609,659 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 191,546 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 0.9% of Bridgewater Associates LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $167,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in Visa by 970.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 211.9% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.74.

Visa Trading Down 0.4 %

V opened at $311.82 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $251.61 and a one year high of $314.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $290.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $277.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $580.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.