Fred Alger Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Fred Alger Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 15.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 983,315 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 185,300 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 1.3% of Fred Alger Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Fred Alger Management LLC owned 0.05% of Visa worth $270,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $314.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $586.25 billion, a PE ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $251.61 and a 12 month high of $316.37. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.31.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on V shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $321.00 price target (up from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The trade was a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa 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.