IMS Capital Management Purchases 176 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

IMS Capital Management lifted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,869 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 176 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.3% of IMS Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. IMS Capital Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 9,446 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,459,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 4,681 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,111,000. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 1,483 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $503,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $274.77 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $227.78 and a 1 year high of $293.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $271.45 and its 200-day moving average is $273.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $502.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.70, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.42. The firm had revenue of $8.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.92 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.94% and a net margin of 54.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on V. BNP Paribas upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $317.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $322.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.22.

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.