Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV Has $10.44 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,039 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Visa makes up 3.8% of Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s holdings in Visa were worth $10,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of V. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Visa by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $566,153,000 after purchasing an additional 199,440 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the third quarter valued at $228,000. James J. Burns & Company LLC grew its position in Visa by 6.1% during the third quarter. James J. Burns & Company LLC now owns 1,931 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $530,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yacktman Asset Management LP bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth about $201,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 64,505 shares of company stock worth $22,290,507 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $352.18 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $335.17 and a 200 day moving average of $307.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $654.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.50, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.