Verity & Verity LLC Has $1.51 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Verity & Verity LLC grew its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 137.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,761 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 2,758 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $1,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Visa by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:V traded up $2.72 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $319.97. The company had a trading volume of 5,746,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,703,089. The business's 50 day moving average price is $313.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $288.73. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $321.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $596.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen increased their target price on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $331.92.

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.