Bell Bank Grows Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Bell Bank grew its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,401 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 167 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in V. Riverstone Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth $731,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its stake in Visa by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $24,475,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.6 %

V opened at $348.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $647.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. 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 one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $357.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $329.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna raised their price target on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Visa Company 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.