J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Reduces Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,628 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 205 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $8,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Visa by 10.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $566,153,000 after acquiring an additional 199,440 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in Visa by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.3% in the third quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 3,213 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 6,442 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,771,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $975,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, 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 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on V shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note 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. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.73.

Visa Stock Up 0.6 %

Visa stock opened at $356.04 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $326.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $300.04. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $356.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $661.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.89, a PEG ratio of 2.32 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.79%.

Visa 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.