Dillon & Associates Inc. Acquires 719 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Dillon & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,716 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Visa comprises 4.6% of Dillon & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $32,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Visa by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 142,202,830 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $39,685,966,000 after purchasing an additional 788,908 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Visa by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,570,391 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,578,025,000 after buying an additional 626,618 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Visa by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,863,796 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,264,508,000 after purchasing an additional 968,008 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,610,590 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,833,981,000 after purchasing an additional 345,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,416,394 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,783,857,000 after buying an additional 312,286 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on V. Macquarie lifted their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Compass Point started coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $317.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $309.82 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $244.11 and a fifty-two week high of $312.44. The company has a market cap of $564.59 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $284.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $274.92.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.38%.

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.