Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Position Cut by Capital Counsel LLC NY

Capital Counsel LLC NY decreased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 803,173 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 10,457 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 10.8% of Capital Counsel LLC NY’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Capital Counsel LLC NY’s holdings in Visa were worth $253,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,242,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 7.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,576,366,000 after purchasing an additional 411,210 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth about $69,000. Passumpsic Savings Bank increased its stake in Visa by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 9,137 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,512,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 101.5% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 44,984 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,368,000 after buying an additional 22,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $329.26 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $341.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $611.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.19, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

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.