Stephens Inc. AR Purchases 1,008 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 128,706 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Visa were worth $40,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 2,190 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its stake in Visa by 22.4% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 52,998 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $14,572,000 after buying an additional 9,705 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 8,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,301,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 566,729 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $155,822,000 after buying an additional 13,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iams Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,475 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $406,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $350.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $651.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $352.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $321.77 and a 200 day moving average of $296.88.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued 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 return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on V shares. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.