Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stake Lifted by Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV

Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV raised its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,205 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 3.7% of Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s holdings in Visa were worth $8,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the third quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,930 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $904,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Towerpoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,427,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 10.1% in the third quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Richelieu Gestion SA bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $307,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $272.31 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.14 and a 52-week high of $290.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $500.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $279.52 and a 200-day moving average of $263.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.18 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $298.43.

About Visa

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.