Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 55,130 Visa Inc. $V

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 55,130 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $18,820,000. Visa comprises approximately 0.6% of Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 97,782 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $33,381,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,711 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $110,031,000. Kickstand Ventures LLC. purchased a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $218,000. Finally, KKM Financial LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 14,335 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,894,000 after purchasing an additional 1,528 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $310.10 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $299.00 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $562.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.09, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $324.62 and a 200-day moving average of $335.62.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The business had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.75 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 25.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total transaction of $3,661,152.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. The trade was a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Macquarie Infrastructure reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $392.65.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.