Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Boosts Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 65,501 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $18,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,402 shares of company stock valued at $9,559,382. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $275.22 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $503.36 billion, a PE ratio of 30.75, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $273.97 and a 200 day moving average of $273.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $225.50 and a one year high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its 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. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $322.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.76.

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.