Howard Capital Management Inc. Purchases 898 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,218 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,292,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $454,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 1,032 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $349.46 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $329.81 and a 200 day moving average of $303.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $649.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $357.15.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on V. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.