Ballast Advisors LLC Increases Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ballast Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 0.8% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa 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. Insiders sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $339.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $629.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $339.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $312.40.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on V shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 price target (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

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.