Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Operose Advisors LLC

Operose Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 64.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,247 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 4,124 shares during the quarter. Operose Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $335.27 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $622.86 billion, a PE ratio of 33.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $342.12 and a 200-day moving average of $319.51. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on V shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.