Crown Oak Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Visa Inc.

Crown Oak Advisors LLC has raised its investment in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, as per the latest 13F filing with the SEC. Following the acquisition of an additional 2,668 shares during this period, the institutional investor now holds a total of 64,016 shares in the credit card processor. Visa represents approximately 10.4% of Crown Oak Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making it the advisor's second largest position. At the conclusion of the latest quarter, Crown Oak Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were valued at around $20,231,000.

A variety of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also adjusted their stakes in Visa. State Street Corp has increased its stake by 4.5% during the third quarter and now owns 76,610,942 shares valued at $21,064,179,000 after acquiring an additional 3,327,977 shares. Similarly, FMR LLC has raised its holdings in Visa by 6.1%, owning 57,111,843 shares valued at $15,702,901,000 after adding 3,265,518 shares to its position. Geode Capital Management LLC also grew its stake by 7.7% during the third quarter and now has 38,655,250 shares worth $10,601,135,000 following an additional purchase of 2,772,549 shares. UBS AM, a segment of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC, increased its shareholdings in Visa by 1.1%, bringing its total to 11,597,969 shares valued at $3,188,862,000 after acquiring 123,927 shares. Lastly, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake by 6.2%, now owning 11,522,445 shares valued at $3,168,096,000 after adding 670,590 shares. Overall, institutional investors currently own 82.15% of Visa's stock.

New Price Targets for Visa

Visa has been in the spotlight of various research analyst evaluations. Mizuho recently adjusted their price target from $279.00 to $292.00 while maintaining a "neutral" rating on the stock. Bank of America also increased its target price from $314.00 to $331.00, keeping a "neutral" outlook. Robert W. Baird upgraded their price target from $330.00 to $340.00 and designated the stock with an "outperform" rating. Barclays set a new price target of $347.00, up from $319.00, with an "overweight" rating assigned. Additionally, Deutsche Bank raised their target price from $300.00 to $340.00, labeling the stock as a "buy". Currently, four research analysts assign a hold rating, while twenty-four have issued buy ratings and two have given a strong buy rating. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa's stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus price target of $334.58.

Current Trading Information

Visa's stock opened at $330.20 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $314.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $290.42. Over the last year, Visa's stock has seen a low of $252.70 and a high of $331.09. The firm has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28, and a quick ratio also at 1.28. Visa Inc. holds a market capitalization of $615.11 billion with a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 33.94, and a price-to-earnings-growth (PEG) ratio of 2.17, with a beta of 0.96.

Recent Earnings Results

Visa disclosed its quarterly earnings results on October 29th. The company reported earnings of $2.71 per share for the quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa attained a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. Its quarterly revenue amounted to $9.62 billion, exceeding analyst projections of $9.49 billion. Compared to the same quarter the previous year, this reflects an 11.7% increase in revenue. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will deliver approximately 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dividend Increase

Recently, Visa declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on December 2nd. Shareholders on record as of November 12th received a $0.59 dividend, translating to an annualized dividend of $2.36, with a yield of 0.71%. This is an increase from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date occurred on November 12th. Visa's payout ratio stands at 24.25%.

Insider Transactions

In related news, CEO Ryan McInerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock on January 2nd, fetching an average price of $317.78, totaling $2,739,263.60. This transaction was disclosed in an SEC filing. Additionally, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares on November 22nd, for an average price of $307.97, totaling $668,602.87. Post-transaction, this insider owns 17,894 shares of Visa valued at $5,510,815.18, marking a 10.82% reduction in their holding. Currently, 0.13% of Visa's stock is owned by insiders.

About Visa Inc.

Visa Inc. operates as a payment technology company both domestically in the United States and internationally. The company runs VisaNet, which is a transaction processing network that supports the authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. Visa also offers a range of products including credit, debit, and prepaid cards, alongside services like tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay. Furthermore, Visa Direct facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards and digital wallets, while Visa B2B Connect addresses cross-border payments between businesses.

Visa, Investors, Earnings