Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. Has $317.54 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,154,890 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,236 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 4.5% of Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. owned about 0.06% of Visa worth $317,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heritage Investment Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 5.1% during the third quarter. Heritage Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,218 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the third quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,261 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 11.9% during the third quarter. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 14,362 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 3.1% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 2,442,676 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $671,613,000 after acquiring an additional 73,356 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of V traded up $1.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $309.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,106,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,762,525. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $245.60 and a 52-week high of $312.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $287.04 and its 200-day moving average is $275.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $564.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.19% 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.