HM Payson & Co. Raises Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

HM Payson & Co. raised its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 408,869 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 2.2% of HM Payson & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $129,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Visa by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $566,153,000 after purchasing an additional 199,440 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $228,000. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,375 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,432 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,494,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of several recent research reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,505 shares of company stock worth $22,290,507 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $345.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $642.41 billion, a PE ratio of 34.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $336.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $308.35. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Visa Company 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.