Martin Capital Advisors LLP Raises Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Martin Capital Advisors LLP grew its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,501 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 2.3% of Martin Capital Advisors LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Martin Capital Advisors LLP’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on V. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.73.

Visa Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:V opened at $350.88 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $321.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $296.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $352.12. The company has a market cap of $651.85 billion, a PE ratio of 35.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Visa

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 transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.