Zacks Investment Management Grows Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Zacks Investment Management boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,992 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 707 shares during the quarter. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $14,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 970.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 211.9% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth about $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $311.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $295.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $579.37 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $317.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.74.

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.