Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 846 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 131,744 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 846 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 1.4% of Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $41,636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Visa by 10.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $566,153,000 after acquiring an additional 199,440 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew 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 buying an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth about $228,000. James J. Burns & Company LLC grew its stake in Visa by 6.1% during the third quarter. James J. Burns & Company LLC now owns 1,931 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $530,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yacktman Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth about $201,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 64,505 shares of company stock valued at $22,290,507 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Down 0.0 %

Visa stock opened at $352.18 on Thursday. 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 $366.54. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $335.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $307.55. The firm has a market cap of $654.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.50, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

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.