Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Buys 1,598 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 74,047 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 1,598 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $23,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 964 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Forza Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Presilium Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Visa by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Presilium Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,503 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $475,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $351.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $652.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.41, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $351.90. The company’s fifty day moving average is $321.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $296.19.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.73.

Visa Company 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.