IMS Capital Management Boosts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

IMS Capital Management grew its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,962 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.4% of IMS Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. IMS Capital Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 970.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $318.01 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $318.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $592.41 billion, a PE ratio of 32.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $301.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.78.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Macquarie boosted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.74.

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.