J. Stern & Co. LLP Buys 2,235 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 20.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,082 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,235 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.4% of J. Stern & Co. LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. J. Stern & Co. LLP’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Unionview LLC lifted its position in Visa by 1.5% during the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. St. Louis Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 3,885 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its stake in Visa by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 13,933 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,831,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 15.9% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of V stock traded down $1.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $311.91. 396,094 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,963,716. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $251.61 and a 12-month high of $314.50. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $289.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $277.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $581.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie increased their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.74.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.