MCF Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Visa Inc. $V

MCF Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,509 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,598 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $57,711,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,575 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,253,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,631 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth about $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Visa by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,769,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,820,885 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,552,057,000 after purchasing an additional 145,665 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $411.00 price target (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. HSBC raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Macquarie Infrastructure restated an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 price objective on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $392.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,608,789.09. The trade was a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $331.82 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $604.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $338.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $340.87. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.75 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 25.14%.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.