Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Bought by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 65,501 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $18,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alaethes Wealth LLC lifted its position in Visa by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 8,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Holistic Financial Partners raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 1,975 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Destiny Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, 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 value of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 34,402 shares of company stock worth $9,559,382. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $275.22 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $503.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.75, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $225.50 and a 12-month high of $290.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $273.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.14.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $303.76.

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.