Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Purchased by Strong Tower Advisory Services

Strong Tower Advisory Services boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,430 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Visa comprises 2.0% of Strong Tower Advisory Services’ portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Visa were worth $4,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 116,608.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,504,130 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,090,978,000 after purchasing an additional 24,483,134 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,067,232,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Visa by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 51,122,866 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,621,287,000 after acquiring an additional 5,864,340 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Visa by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 72,897,112 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $16,435,339,000 after acquiring an additional 2,572,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.1 %

V stock traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $278.78. 5,844,191 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,650,746. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.14 and a 12-month high of $290.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $511.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $279.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $258.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on V. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Visa news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,311 shares of company stock worth $12,832,129. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.