Sowell Financial Services LLC Boosts Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sowell Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,723 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 10,506 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.7% of Sowell Financial Services LLC's holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Sowell Financial Services LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $13,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Riverstone Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC grew its position in Visa by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares during the period. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $10,163,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $24,475,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,505 shares of company stock valued at $22,290,507. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $353.96.

Remove Ads

Visa Stock Up 0.5 %

V stock opened at $345.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $642.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $336.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $308.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.79%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.