Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Acquires 31,358 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 662,194 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,358 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 4.3% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Visa were worth $226,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,185,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Transcendent Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 2.9% during the second quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 1.6% in the third quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Old Port Advisors increased its stake in Visa by 0.9% in the third quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 3,423 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,169,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Interchange Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.5% during the second quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,413 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $346.52 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $339.15 and its 200 day moving average is $343.76. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The stock has a market cap of $631.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total transaction of $707,919.96. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. The trade was a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 13,557 shares of company stock valued at $4,586,137 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on V shares. Macquarie reduced their target price on Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. HSBC upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $335.00 to $389.00 in a report on Sunday, December 7th. Evercore ISI set a $380.00 price objective on Visa in a report on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.52.

Visa 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.