Hilltop Holdings Inc. Acquires 47,307 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 279.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,218 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,307 shares during the period. Visa makes up 1.1% of Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $17,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in V. Arjuna Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the second quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 11,851 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $731,000. Mechanics Bank Trust Department grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 32,460 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $111,331,000 after buying an additional 20,023 shares during the period. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $7,987,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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. This represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of V stock opened at $315.90 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $292.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.55. 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 $588.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.14 and a 1-year high of $316.37.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. Visa’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $321.00 price target (up from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

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.