Clarity Financial LLC Grows Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Clarity Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,015 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,737 shares during the quarter. Clarity Financial LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $6,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 45,189.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,758,505 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,683,101,000 after purchasing an additional 9,736,958 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4,412.3% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,072,467 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,119,725,000 after acquiring an additional 4,166,905 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 787.1% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,619,881 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,296,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,099,122 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth approximately $511,321,000. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,990,634 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,671,866,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715,686 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price objective on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.74.

Visa Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $293.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $281.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $273.97. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $240.97 and a 12-month high of $296.34. The company has a market capitalization of $534.59 billion, a PE ratio of 30.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 21.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa 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.