Sherman Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 1,773 Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,773 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $560,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $363.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $364.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $674.99 billion, a PE ratio of 36.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $333.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $305.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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.