Covey Capital Advisors LLC Sells 1,744 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Covey Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,186 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,744 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 8.3% of Covey Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Covey Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. State Street Corp boosted its position in Visa by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Visa by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,702,901,000 after buying an additional 3,265,518 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,601,135,000 after buying an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $268,640,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $227,342,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $348.27 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $329.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $302.34. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $357.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $647.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on V shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently 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.