Howard Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,218 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Visa by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital grew its holdings in Visa by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 1,032 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $349.46 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $649.21 billion, a PE ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $329.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $303.29. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $357.15.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Susquehanna raised their price target on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction 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 owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.