Stevens Capital Management LP Lowers Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Stevens Capital Management LP cut its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 56.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,953 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 10,391 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 970.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 211.9% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.74.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $309.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $577.28 billion, a PE ratio of 31.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.14 and a 1-year high of $317.42. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $294.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.25.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.