Buffington Mohr McNeal Reduces Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Buffington Mohr McNeal reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,414 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 84 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 2.2% of Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Visa were worth $13,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $731,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth $616,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 75,456 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $23,847,000 after purchasing an additional 4,198 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $7,987,000. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $111,331,000 after buying an additional 20,023 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE V opened at $343.26 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $344.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $316.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $292.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $639.46 billion, a PE ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna raised their price target on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $335.52.

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.