Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 1,795 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,328 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,795 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $57,711,249,000 after buying an additional 1,461,575 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 2.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,253,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,631 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth about $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its position in Visa by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,769,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429,996 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,820,885 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,552,057,000 after purchasing an additional 145,665 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 0.7%

Visa stock opened at $319.07 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $333.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $338.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $579.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.79.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The company had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on V. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Freedom Capital raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Bank of America upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, HSBC upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.43.

Visa Company Profile

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.