Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 60,567 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 1.7% of Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Swedbank AB increased its position in Visa by 10.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $566,153,000 after purchasing an additional 199,440 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Visa by 0.6% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at $228,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Visa by 7.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at $660,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $331.72 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $616.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.44, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $337.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $311.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,855 shares of company stock worth $35,165,827 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.