Wills Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wills Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 79.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,049 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 4,882 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.5% of Wills Financial Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Wills Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $3,492,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,248,079,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $623,022,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:V traded down $0.21 on Friday, reaching $335.50. 4,451,694 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,211,210. The business has a fifty day moving average of $338.42 and a 200-day moving average of $322.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $623.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on V. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $383.00 price objective (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $358.17.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.