Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Howland Capital Management LLC

Howland Capital Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 183,249 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,299 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 2.5% of Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $57,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth $731,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth about $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $24,475,000 after buying an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $351.26 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $321.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $296.19. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $351.90. The firm has a market cap of $652.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.41, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on V. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.