Sage Investment Counsel LLC Purchases Shares of 5,133 Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $1,622,000. Visa comprises 2.1% of Sage Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Visa by 17,018.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,248,079,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926,049 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the third 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 raised its holdings in Visa by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after buying an additional 3,265,518 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $10,601,135,000 after buying an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth $268,640,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was 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 ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Up 2.1 %

V stock opened at $363.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $674.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 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 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $364.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $333.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $305.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on V. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America upped their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

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.