Joseph Group Capital Management Acquires 2,198 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Joseph Group Capital Management raised its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 14.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,310 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 2,198 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.7% of Joseph Group Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Joseph Group Capital Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Bare Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 287.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Macquarie decreased their price target on shares of Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI set a $380.00 target price on Visa in a research note on Friday, December 12th. HSBC raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $335.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.52.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total transaction of $3,661,152.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. The trade was a 52.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,247,289. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $349.75 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $299.00 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $637.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $340.09 and its 200 day moving average is $344.14.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

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

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.