Smart Portfolios LLC Has $1.24 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Smart Portfolios LLC reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,924 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 110 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 1.3% of Smart Portfolios LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Smart Portfolios LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of V. Riverstone Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $10,163,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $24,475,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’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 directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,505 shares of company stock worth $22,290,507 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Visa Trading Down 2.8 %

Visa stock opened at $331.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $616.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. 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 $366.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $337.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $309.89.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

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.