Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 500.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,000 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Visa by 101.4% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $328.18 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $328.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $611.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50-day moving average is $314.14 and its 200 day moving average is $289.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.81.

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.