Hilltop Holdings Inc. Purchases 1,044 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,981 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 0.7% of Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,393,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its stake in shares of Visa by 534.2% in the 4th quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 742 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $193,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 5,609 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Act Two Investors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Act Two Investors LLC now owns 98,077 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $25,534,000 after acquiring an additional 24,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Value Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 20,656 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,378,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,402 shares of company stock worth $9,559,382 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:V traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $274.49. The company had a trading volume of 4,339,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,948,953. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.14 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The stock has a market cap of $502.03 billion, a PE ratio of 30.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $276.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $270.06.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The business’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Redburn Atlantic restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $307.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Macquarie raised their price target on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.76.

Visa Company 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.