First Citizens Financial Corp Acquires 1,860 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

First Citizens Financial Corp boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 108.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,575 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,860 shares during the period. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,130,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the third quarter worth $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the second quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Down 0.1 %

V stock traded down $0.24 on Friday, hitting $314.16. 1,748,013 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,495,223. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $309.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $285.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $321.61. The stock has a market cap of $585.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on V shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $329.70.

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.