Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Increases Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,744 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 621 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,212,000. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Absolute Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth approximately $404,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 40.4% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 25,137 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,967,000 after buying an additional 7,236 shares during the period. Finally, Davidson Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Davidson Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,275 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,588,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded up $5.13 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $274.32. The stock had a trading volume of 5,557,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,139,806. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $265.72 and a 200-day moving average of $273.11. The firm has a market cap of $499.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $227.78 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The business had revenue of $8.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $322.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $308.50.

About Visa

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.