Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Purchases 1,598 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 74,047 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,598 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $23,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on V. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.73.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $351.26 on Tuesday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $321.08 and a 200 day moving average of $296.19. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $351.90. The stock has a market cap of $652.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.41, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly 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 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given 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 presently 23.79%.

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.