Horizon Investment Services LLC Has $5.01 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Horizon Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,841 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 682 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 2.1% of Horizon Investment Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Horizon Investment Services LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Visa by 4.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,064,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,977 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $342.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $636.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $343.60 and a 200-day moving average of $315.06. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Visa Company 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.