Leelyn Smith LLC Buys 388 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Leelyn Smith LLC raised its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,137 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 388 shares during the period. Leelyn Smith LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,437,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 970.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 211.9% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $309.93 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $289.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $277.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $577.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $251.61 and a 52 week high of $312.44.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.74.

Visa 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.