Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Has $2.86 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,988 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.5% of Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 116,608.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,504,130 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,090,978,000 after buying an additional 24,483,134 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,067,232,000. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Visa by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 51,122,866 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,621,287,000 after buying an additional 5,864,340 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 17,418.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,737,229 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,233,338,000 after purchasing an additional 4,710,188 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Visa by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 72,897,112 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $16,435,339,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572,159 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of V stock opened at $271.28 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $280.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $262.19. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.14 and a 12-month high of $290.96. The firm has a market cap of $498.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.55 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.18 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on V shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.87.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,511 shares of company stock valued at $15,131,081 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.