Core Alternative Capital Increases Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Core Alternative Capital increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 21,150 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares during the period. Core Alternative Capital’s holdings in Visa were worth $6,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:V opened at $351.43 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $652.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $352.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $322.53 and a 200 day moving average of $297.52.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Bank of America increased their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen increased their target price on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.