Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Holdings Lifted by Centric Wealth Management

Centric Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,496 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 1.5% of Centric Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Centric Wealth Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Visa by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,073,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,927,122,000 after purchasing an additional 763,505 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,272,846,000 after acquiring an additional 374,489 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,824,113 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,078,408,000 after purchasing an additional 85,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,524,329 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,725,079,000 after purchasing an additional 141,566 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Macquarie lifted their price objective on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $303.00.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V traded up $0.71 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $277.17. The stock had a trading volume of 2,423,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,846,642. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $277.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.37. The stock has a market cap of $506.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.14 and a twelve month high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Company Profile

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.