Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Prudent Investors Network Inc.

Prudent Investors Network Inc. increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,433 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 143 shares during the quarter. Prudent Investors Network Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on V. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Visa Trading Up 1.2 %

Visa stock opened at $349.27 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $351.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $319.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $294.37. The company has a market capitalization of $650.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a PEG ratio of 2.30 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 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $2,930,800.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,983 shares of company stock worth $7,213,146. 0.13% of the stock is owned by 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.