Main Street Research LLC Increases Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Main Street Research LLC increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 20.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 151,597 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 25,414 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 3.2% of Main Street Research LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $39,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV raised its stake in Visa by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,930 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $904,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Towerpoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $216,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 10.1% in the third quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Richelieu Gestion SA purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $307,000. Finally, Cooper Financial Group raised its stake in shares of Visa by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 7,926 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,064,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $272.69 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.14 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $279.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $262.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $500.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.18 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,716,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 55,511 shares of company stock worth $15,131,081. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on Visa from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.43.

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.