Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 96,400 Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 96,400 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $25,098,000. Visa comprises 0.5% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,519,197 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $655,999,000 after purchasing an additional 25,366 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,959 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,155,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 335,698 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $87,399,000 after purchasing an additional 3,001 shares during the period. Bray Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Visa by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Bray Capital Advisors now owns 24,825 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,463,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 50,384 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $13,118,000 after purchasing an additional 3,268 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of V stock opened at $271.28 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.14 and a 1 year high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $280.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $262.19. The company has a market cap of $498.21 billion, a PE ratio of 31.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.55 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.18 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $307.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $296.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,511 shares of company stock valued at $15,131,081. 0.19% 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.