Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $12.95 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 38.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 49,731 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,728 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $12,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 66.2% during the 4th quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 236 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $71,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $268.49. The company had a trading volume of 3,810,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,903,757. The company has a market capitalization of $493.08 billion, a PE ratio of 30.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.14 and a 52-week high of $290.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $278.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $265.22.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group upped their price target on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays upped their target price on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.00.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,724 shares of company stock worth $3,278,698 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company 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.