Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. Acquires 185 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 17.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,221 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Whelan Financial bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at $205,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 9,999 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,791,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust Co. VA bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at $9,288,000. Retirement Guys Formula LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC now owns 4,528 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,264,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, Fruth Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at $208,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.56.

Visa Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of V traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $268.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,017,760 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,395,944. The company’s 50-day moving average is $273.45 and its 200-day moving average is $273.65. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.68 and a 52-week high of $290.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $491.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.24%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total transaction of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,959,322.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total transaction of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.