Boston Financial Mangement LLC Decreases Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Boston Financial Mangement LLC decreased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 259,276 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 959 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 2.5% of Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $81,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:V opened at $348.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $329.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $302.34. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $357.15. The company has a market cap of $647.01 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. 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 (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on V shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 transaction of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % 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 corporate insiders.

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.