E&G Advisors LP Decreases Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

E&G Advisors LP lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,256 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Visa makes up 0.6% of E&G Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. E&G Advisors LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 101.4% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $349.27 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $319.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $650.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $351.25.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid 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 (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,983 shares of company stock valued at $7,213,146 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Macquarie increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

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.