Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. Has $7.75 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,534 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 269 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 4.8% of Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Umpqua Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 9,402 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,468,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in Visa by 11,135.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 403,365 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $105,871,000 after buying an additional 399,775 shares during the period. Cross Staff Investments Inc grew its stake in shares of Visa by 2.3% during the second quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 5,917 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,553,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 29,333 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,699,000 after buying an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Finally, Otter Creek Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Otter Creek Advisors LLC now owns 18,433 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,838,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $2.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $312.84. 6,550,131 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,887,388. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $309.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $285.76. The firm has a market cap of $582.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $321.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $329.70.

About Visa

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.