Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Sterling Investment Management LLC

Sterling Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,210 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 128 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 2.8% of Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price 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. Bank of America raised their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $334.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $330.20 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $331.09. The stock has a market cap of $615.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $314.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $289.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

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.