Verity & Verity LLC Boosts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 137.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,761 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,758 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 101.4% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. 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 MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $319.97 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $321.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $596.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.88, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day moving average is $313.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $288.59.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued 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 company 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 revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

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.