Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.

Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,512 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 545.5% during the third quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC now owns 142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 1,019.2% in the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.43.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded up $2.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $276.36. 4,026,682 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,851,841. The company has a market cap of $507.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $279.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $263.90. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.14 and a 52 week high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. Visa’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid 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, February 8th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total value of $2,228,128.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total value of $2,228,128.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,965 shares of company stock worth $5,256,352. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa 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.