Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $331.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $337.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $311.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $616.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 103,855 shares of company stock valued at $35,165,827. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

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.