Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Purchases 49,772 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. raised its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 876,972 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,772 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 5.6% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Visa were worth $277,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $333.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $618.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.57, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $337.35 and a 200-day moving average of $310.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,505 shares of company stock worth $22,290,507 in the last 90 days. 0.13% 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.