APG Asset Management N.V. Buys 1,345,291 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 484.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,622,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,345,291 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.4% of APG Asset Management N.V.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. APG Asset Management N.V. owned approximately 0.09% of Visa worth $495,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 18,591 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,876,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $3,155,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 426,549 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $134,884,000 after purchasing an additional 20,389 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Capital Management grew its position in shares of Visa by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 33,708 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,653,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares during the period. Finally, Southeast Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in Visa by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC now owns 10,436 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,298,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays upped their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Visa Trading Down 0.4 %

V opened at $311.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $579.50 billion, a PE ratio of 31.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $344.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $317.46.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.