Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Grows Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 134.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,034 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,750 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.1% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of V. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bare Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in Visa by 287.0% during the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Erste Group Bank cut Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price target on Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $402.52.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $346.52 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $339.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $343.76. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $299.00 and a one year high of $375.51. The stock has a market cap of $631.26 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.The company had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. Visa’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total transaction of $707,919.96. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This trade represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,557 shares of company stock valued at $4,586,137. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Visa

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.