Cullinan Associates Inc. Acquires 36,324 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Cullinan Associates Inc. raised its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 129.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 64,365 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 36,324 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.0% of Cullinan Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $17,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $3,895,015,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 17,418.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,737,229 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,233,338,000 after acquiring an additional 4,710,188 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 14,306.3% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,500,270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $390,595,000 after buying an additional 1,489,856 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Visa by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,895,788 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,659,169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,185,077 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $568,885,000 after buying an additional 1,272,211 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on V. Citigroup upped their target price on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $307.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.56.

Visa Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $268.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $490.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.96, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $273.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $273.61. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $227.68 and a one year high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total transaction of $7,009,954.95. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $4,959,322.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Profile

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.