Alcosta Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Alcosta Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,103 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 2.6% of Alcosta Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Alcosta Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Visa by 17,018.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,248,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926,049 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock opened at $313.46 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $582.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $345.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $317.07. 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 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 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 $2,930,800.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 over the last three months. 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.