Covey Capital Advisors LLC Sells 1,744 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Covey Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,186 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,744 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 8.3% of Covey Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Covey Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Warther Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $454,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Vicus Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 1,032 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the 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. The trade was 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 have sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $348.27 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $357.15. The firm has a market cap of $647.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $329.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $302.34. 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 (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on V. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

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.