Howard Financial Services LTD. Boosts Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 114.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,971 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Visa were worth $623,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $319.97 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $321.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $596.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $313.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.92.

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.