D.A. Davidson & CO. Has $109.54 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lessened its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 346,592 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 4,779 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.9% of D.A. Davidson & CO.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Visa were worth $109,537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $354.95 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $659.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.78, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $327.75 and a 200 day moving average of $301.05. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $357.15.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on V shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

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.