Cetera Investment Advisers Acquires 19,390 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 685,034 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,390 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Visa were worth $243,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of V. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the second quarter worth $29,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 82.0% in the second quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 1.8%

Visa stock opened at $329.89 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $604.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $342.16 and a 200 day moving average of $348.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $830,432.64. This represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,897 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,561. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $408.00 price target (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Macquarie decreased their price objective on shares of Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.00.

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.