Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Has $395.26 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lowered its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,249,310 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 115,519 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 1.8% of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Visa were worth $395,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 517,523 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $154,629,000 after acquiring an additional 9,922 shares in the last quarter. Tredje AP fonden increased its stake in Visa by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 398,789 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $126,033,000 after purchasing an additional 70,490 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 60,289 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $19,054,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,697 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 4,719,000 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,491,393,000 after buying an additional 46,600 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Bank of America increased their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $333.01 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $337.35 and its 200 day moving average is $310.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $618.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.57, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. 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 (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 64,505 shares of company stock worth $22,290,507 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.