Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Increases Position in Visa Inc. $V

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,951 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.2% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,733,000 after acquiring an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,834,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its holdings in Visa by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Visa by 13.8% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,521,000 after buying an additional 2,230 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Bank of America started coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price target on Visa in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $388.88.

Visa Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of V opened at $314.14 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $570.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $311.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $328.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.14%.

Visa Company 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.