MML Investors Services LLC Buys 1,103 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 417,672 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,103 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $132,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew 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 valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on V. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.84.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $2,930,800.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total transaction of $13,395,133.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,991,249.33. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $329.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $366.54. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $340.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $320.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $611.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

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.