Norges Bank Takes Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 16,362,710 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. Visa accounts for approximately 0.7% of Norges Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,421,000. Homestead Advisers Corp boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 301,174 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $95,183,000 after buying an additional 11,500 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its position in Visa by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 31,278 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $9,885,000 after buying an additional 2,411 shares during the period. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $2,813,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 91,427 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,895,000 after purchasing an additional 22,678 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Down 0.2 %

V stock opened at $344.05 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year 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. The business’s 50 day moving average is $342.50 and its 200-day moving average is $314.42. The firm has a market cap of $639.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price objective (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.