Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Bought by Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. grew its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,970 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 859 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,845,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $295,000. Smith Salley Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 110,556 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Herbst Group LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Herbst Group LLC now owns 10,404 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC now owns 10,853 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,430,000 after acquiring an additional 763 shares during the period. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC raised its position in Visa by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 16,988 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,369,000 after purchasing an additional 1,351 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $319.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $313.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $288.59. The stock has a market cap of $596.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $321.61.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Visa’s payout ratio is 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on V shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.92.

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.