Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Bought by Gradient Investments LLC

Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 22.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 148,713 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 27,686 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 1.0% of Gradient Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $46,999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on V. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie upped their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $335.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock opened at $330.20 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $331.09. The firm has a market cap of $615.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50 day moving average is $314.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.59.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

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.