Brookstone Capital Management Boosts Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 13.3%, owning 49,659 shares valued at $17.6 million as of the latest filing.
• Institutional investors collectively hold 82.15% of Visa's stock, with notable increases in holdings from firms like Vanguard and Wellington Management Group.
• Several analysts have recently upgraded Visa's stock ratings, with target prices ranging up to $425, contributing to a consensus price target of $392.75.

Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,659 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 5,829 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management's holdings in Visa were worth $17,631,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,654,189,000 after acquiring an additional 726,299 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after buying an additional 955,392 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,675,220 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,442,157,000 after buying an additional 434,217 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Visa by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,847,953,000 after buying an additional 1,651,954 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total value of $3,589,015.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $183,815.10. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on V. Citigroup upgraded shares of Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $392.75.

Visa Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $347.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $636.60 billion, a PE ratio of 33.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.90. The firm's 50-day moving average is $344.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $347.60. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $280.78 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is 23.05%.

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.

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