Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. Boosts Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 60,567 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 115 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.7% of Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Visa by 17,018.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926,049 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Visa by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after acquiring an additional 3,327,977 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Visa by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,265,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,549 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $331.72 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $616.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $337.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $311.19. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on V. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 103,855 shares of company stock valued at $35,165,827. Company 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.