Ballast Advisors LLC Has $2.54 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ballast Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 0.8% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Riverstone Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group boosted its position in shares of Visa by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $23,663,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $10,163,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth $616,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $339.10 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $339.91 and its 200 day moving average is $312.40. The firm has a market cap of $629.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54.

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%. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total transaction of $13,395,133.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,991,249.33. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.