Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stock Position Raised by Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC

Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC increased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 26.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,657 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 2,864 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC's holdings in Visa were worth $4,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,926,000. Ground Swell Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Francis Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 100.1% in the fourth quarter. Francis Financial Inc. now owns 1,597 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 157,367 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $49,734,000 after purchasing an additional 20,323 shares during the period. Finally, Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,409,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V traded up $3.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $355.89. The stock had a trading volume of 7,983,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,172,394. 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 $661.16 billion, a PE ratio of 35.88, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $336.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $327.32.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Macquarie lowered their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $362.38.

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.