Smith Salley Wealth Management Grows Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,556 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 2.2% of Smith Salley Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $34,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Herbst Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Herbst Group LLC now owns 10,404 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,288,000 after buying an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC grew its position in Visa by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC now owns 10,853 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,430,000 after acquiring an additional 763 shares during the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC grew its position in Visa by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 16,988 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,351 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Visa by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 55,547 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $17,555,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 21,117 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,674,000 after acquiring an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $319.97 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $596.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $321.61. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $313.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $288.59.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly 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. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.