Wright Investors Service Inc. Buys 707 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wright Investors Service Inc. boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,689 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.2% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Visa by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,143 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $818,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP raised its holdings in Visa by 18.4% during the 2nd quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Parker Financial LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 925 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $241,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $269.71 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $279.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $262.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.14 and a 12-month high of $290.96. The firm has a market cap of $495.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The business had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Visa from $296.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $307.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $298.43.

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.