Sowell Financial Services LLC Boosts Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sowell Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,723 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 10,506 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.7% of Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $13,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Riverstone Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC grew its position in Visa by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares during the period. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $10,163,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $24,475,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,505 shares of company stock valued at $22,290,507. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

Visa Stock Up 0.5 %

V stock opened at $345.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $642.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $336.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $308.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.79%.

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.