Western Pacific Wealth Management LP Increases Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Western Pacific Wealth Management LP raised its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,986 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 336 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.5% of Western Pacific Wealth Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $628,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa by 101.4% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie upped their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.73.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,983 shares of company stock valued at $7,213,146 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $345.31 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $351.25. The stock has a market cap of $643.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $318.40 and its 200 day moving average is $293.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced 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 return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

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.