Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 12,636 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 32.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,121 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 12,636 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $16,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted 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 worth $2,683,101,000 after purchasing an additional 9,736,958 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 4,166,905 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after acquiring an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 3,265,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $10,601,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V traded up $2.72 on Friday, reaching $319.97. The stock had a trading volume of 5,746,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,703,089. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $321.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $596.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $313.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $288.59.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 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 given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost 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 yield of 0.74%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Macquarie increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $331.92.

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.