Strong Tower Advisory Services Raises Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,865 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 624 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 1.7% of Strong Tower Advisory Services’ portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Visa were worth $6,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $452,000. Mechanics Bank Trust Department boosted its position in shares of Visa by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 33,859 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the last quarter. Seilern Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $12,610,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,449 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,600,000 after purchasing an additional 6,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC raised its stake in Visa by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 19,836 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,269,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on V shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.92.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $323.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $313.59 and a 200 day moving average of $289.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $603.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.27, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $324.58.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s payout ratio is 24.25%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.