Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC Acquires 142 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,385 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 1.2% of Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $8,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $363.33 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $364.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $674.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $333.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $305.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Visa Company 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.