Millstone Evans Group LLC Invests $787,000 in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,489 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $787,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on V shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Visa Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $336.51 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $340.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $312.82. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $625.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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.