Security Financial Services INC. Takes Position in Visa Inc. $V

Security Financial Services INC. acquired a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 604 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the second quarter worth $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $408.00 price target (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,117. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,897 shares of company stock worth $8,164,561. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 1.8%

Visa stock opened at $329.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $604.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.87. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $299.00 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $342.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $348.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

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

About Visa

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.