PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd Has $33.86 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd lowered its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 107,137 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 4,240 shares during the period. Visa comprises 10.6% of PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd’s holdings in Visa were worth $33,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 110.5% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 27,957 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $7,687,000 after acquiring an additional 14,675 shares during the period. Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC now owns 5,906 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,624,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $224,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of V stock opened at $342.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $636.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $343.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $315.06. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was 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. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

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.