Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Acquires New Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 487 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $154,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 64,505 shares of company stock worth $22,290,507. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $331.93 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $616.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $337.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $309.89.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on V. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

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.