Whitener Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Whitener Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,228 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Visa makes up 2.9% of Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $10,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 101.4% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.92.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock opened at $319.97 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $313.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $288.45. The firm has a market cap of $596.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $321.61.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.