Visa Inc. $V Shares Bought by Blue Grotto Capital LLC

Blue Grotto Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 174.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 83,694 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 53,204 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 3.6% of Blue Grotto Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Blue Grotto Capital LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $29,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 82.0% during the second quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:V opened at $347.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $299.00 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $337.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $345.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $633.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.82.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $380.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $402.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total transaction of $707,919.96. Following the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This trade represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,175,152 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Company 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.