Capital Investment Advisors LLC Buys 5,659 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 44,024 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 5,659 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $13,913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 45,189.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,758,505 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,683,101,000 after purchasing an additional 9,736,958 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Visa by 4,412.3% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,072,467 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,119,725,000 after purchasing an additional 4,166,905 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Visa by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $21,064,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,977 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $15,702,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 7.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $10,601,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,549 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V traded down $1.12 during trading on Monday, hitting $306.59. 9,567,495 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,055,998. The company has a market cap of $571.14 billion, a PE ratio of 31.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $321.61. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $312.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $287.04.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released 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. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. 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 company earned $2.33 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is an increase from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie boosted their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Visa from $325.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $330.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company's 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 17,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 corporate insiders.

About Visa

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.