Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Meridian Wealth Management LLC

Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,863 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,186 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $6,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V opened at $361.60 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $671.77 billion, a PE ratio of 36.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $333.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $306.64.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

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.