Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,764 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $5,156,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Visa by 970.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 211.9% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:V opened at $312.38 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $296.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $279.98. The company has a market cap of $581.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $317.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Visa’s payout ratio is 24.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $321.00 price objective (up from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Compass Point initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.41.

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.