Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Cannell & Spears LLC

Cannell & Spears LLC cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,850 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 787 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $342.62 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $343.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.49. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. 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 company has a market capitalization of $636.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.