Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stock Position Raised by Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,854 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.6% of Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hartford Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 106,753 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its position in Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 42,485 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $13,427,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Advisors Northwest LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $349,000. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. now owns 17,905 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,659,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 9,596 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,033,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $353.73 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $324.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $298.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $657.15 billion, a PE ratio of 35.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $356.08.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

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.