Alcosta Capital Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Alcosta Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,103 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 2.6% of Alcosta Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Alcosta Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $313.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $582.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.60, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $345.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $317.07. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on V. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

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.