Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 347,283 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,017 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 2.0% of Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $96,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nadler Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,427,000. Richelieu Gestion SA purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Finally, Cooper Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Visa by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 7,926 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,064,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Mizuho increased their price target on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $303.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total value of $7,009,954.95. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,402 shares of company stock valued at $9,559,382 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:V opened at $276.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $506.34 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $273.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $272.74. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $224.98 and a 12-month high of $290.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.24%.

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.