Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,962 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.6% of Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 4,412.3% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,072,467 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,119,725,000 after purchasing an additional 4,166,905 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Visa by 787.1% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,619,881 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,296,820,000 after buying an additional 4,099,122 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth approximately $511,321,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Visa by 40.1% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,990,634 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,671,866,000 after buying an additional 1,715,686 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Visa by 26,951.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,587,944 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $416,788,000 after buying an additional 1,582,074 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $287.51 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $275.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $272.74. The company has a market capitalization of $525.83 billion, a PE ratio of 32.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $228.03 and a 12-month high of $293.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. The firm had revenue of $8.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.92 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.94% and a net margin of 54.72%. Visa’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.16 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on V shares. Compass Point began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $319.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $317.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $322.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $318.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $313.81.

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.