PFW Advisors LLC Takes Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 8,698 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $2,749,000. Visa accounts for 0.8% of PFW Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Unionview LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. St. Louis Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 3,885 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 6,217 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,709,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $331.92.

Visa Trading Up 0.8 %

V stock traded up $2.32 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $309.24. 5,107,561 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,958,574. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $312.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $287.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $576.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $321.61.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. 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 0.76%. Visa's payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.