Financial Consulate Inc. Makes New $1.12 Million Investment in Visa Inc. $V

Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,265 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $1,115,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $57,711,249,000 after buying an additional 1,461,575 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,253,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,631 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Visa during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Visa by 14.6% during the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,769,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429,996 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Visa by 7.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on V. Citigroup raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Hsbc Global Res raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Five equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.52.

Visa Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE:V opened at $346.52 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $339.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $343.76. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $299.00 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a market cap of $631.26 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.81. 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 (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,117. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,557 shares of company stock worth $4,586,137. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Company 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.