Abacus Planning Group Inc. Raises Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,630 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $515,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of V stock opened at $348.27 on Friday. 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 $357.15. The company has a market capitalization of $647.01 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day moving average is $329.14 and its 200 day moving average is $302.03.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.31.

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.