Blue Chip Partners LLC Acquires 2,084 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Blue Chip Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,114 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,084 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 2.4% of Blue Chip Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Blue Chip Partners LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $22,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its holdings in Visa by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,143 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $818,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Parker Financial LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 925 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Patron Partners LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 4,295 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,874 shares of company stock valued at $5,506,827 in the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on V shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.58.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $275.48 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $505.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $279.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $264.73. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.14 and a 12 month high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.24%.

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.