Visa Inc. $V Shares Acquired by Sterling Investment Counsel LLC

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,951 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 1,917 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 1.2% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Clayton Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 446.2% in the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa by 102.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 200.0% during the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Dorato Capital Management purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. Weiss Ratings downgraded Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Visa from $425.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $411.00 target price (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Macquarie Infrastructure reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $388.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $314.14 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $311.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $328.98. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $570.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.47, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The business had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 25.14%.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.