Sterneck Capital Management LLC Acquires New Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sterneck Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 785 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Management Group Inc. grew its position in Visa by 9.5% in the second quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,178 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 407.3% in the 2nd quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 106,328 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $27,908,000 after purchasing an additional 85,370 shares during the last quarter. Invesco LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 14,871 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,903,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 55,345 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $14,526,000 after purchasing an additional 3,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden raised its holdings in Visa by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 38,841 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,195,000 after buying an additional 2,900 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $311.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $580.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $321.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $310.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.27.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’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. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on V shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Susquehanna upped their price target on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $329.70.

Visa 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.