Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s 6th Largest Position

Griffin Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 52,886 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,529 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 2.0% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $16,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Mizuho upped their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on Visa from $314.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $335.52.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:V opened at $343.26 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $316.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $292.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $344.44. The firm has a market cap of $639.46 billion, a PE ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

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.