Homestead Advisers Corp Acquires 11,500 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Homestead Advisers Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 301,174 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 11,500 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 2.3% of Homestead Advisers Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Homestead Advisers Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $95,183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 31,278 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $9,885,000 after acquiring an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $2,813,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 91,427 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,895,000 after buying an additional 22,678 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 805,023 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $254,419,000 after buying an additional 14,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $491,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on V shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

Visa Stock Down 0.2 %

V stock opened at $344.05 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $639.17 billion, a PE ratio of 34.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $342.50 and a 200 day moving average of $314.42.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.