Cornerstone Advisors LLC Purchases 2,700 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 89,600 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.0% of Cornerstone Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Cornerstone Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $24,636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 52.9% in the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $307.39 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $250.03 and a one year high of $312.44. The company has a market cap of $560.16 billion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $288.57 and a 200-day moving average of $276.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa's payout ratio is 24.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho raised their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Compass Point assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $319.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $321.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $148,687.06. The trade was a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

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.

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