Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Raises Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its holdings in Visa Inc. by 4.8% in Q1, now owning approximately 27,808 shares valued at $9,746,000.
• Analysts have a positive outlook on Visa, with 23 out of 29 ratings classified as "buy" and price targets now ranging from $380 to $425.
• Visa has reported strong financial results, surpassing earnings expectations with $2.98 EPS and $10.17 billion in revenue for the latest quarter.

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,808 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 0.7% of Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV's holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV's holdings in Visa were worth $9,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 167 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Five 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.84.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $345.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $633.27 billion, a PE ratio of 33.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $262.84 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $350.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,643,224 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Company 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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