Financial Counselors Inc. Increases Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Financial Counselors Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 235,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,474 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 1.0% of Financial Counselors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $64,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on V shares. StockNews.com upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $321.00 target price (up previously from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $314.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $586.15 billion, a PE ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 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 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average is $290.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.06. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $251.61 and a 1 year high of $316.37.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.