Blue Chip Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Blue Chip Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 91,485 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 2.5% of Blue Chip Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Blue Chip Partners LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $28,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on V shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 target price (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $354.95 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $327.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $301.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $357.15. The firm has a market cap of $659.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.78, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.