Financial Counselors Inc. Raises Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 235,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,474 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.0% of Financial Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $64,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 45,189.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,758,505 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,683,101,000 after buying an additional 9,736,958 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 4,412.3% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,072,467 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,119,725,000 after acquiring an additional 4,166,905 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Visa by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,702,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,518 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 26,951.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,587,944 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $416,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,074 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $268,640,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $314.65 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $251.61 and a fifty-two week high of $316.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $586.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $290.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie raised their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $321.00 price objective (up from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.74.

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.