Leuthold Group LLC Has $7.45 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Leuthold Group LLC lifted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,568 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the quarter. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $217,000. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth $731,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC raised its stake 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 worth $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Visa by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $24,475,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE V opened at $348.27 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $647.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $329.14 and its 200-day moving average is $302.66. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $357.15.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on V shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

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.