Banco Santander S.A. Buys 5,394 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 210,360 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,394 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 0.7% of Banco Santander S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Visa were worth $57,838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 970.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 211.9% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE V opened at $308.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $561.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $251.61 and a 12 month high of $312.44. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $288.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $276.84.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen boosted 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 Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This represents a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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.