Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Position Lessened by Tower Bridge Advisors

Tower Bridge Advisors decreased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 64,887 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,711 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 2.2% of Tower Bridge Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Visa were worth $20,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Visa by 10.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $566,153,000 after buying an additional 199,440 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 0.6% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,242,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth about $228,000. Whelan Financial purchased a new stake in Visa in the third quarter worth about $226,000. Finally, United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 3.4% during the third quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 14,847 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,082,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on V. Barclays boosted their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $363.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $364.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $333.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $305.66. The firm has a market cap of $674.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Visa Company 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.