Cullen Investment Group LTD. Trims Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 32,464 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 69 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 1.5% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Visa were worth $10,260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Visa by 101.4% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $306.59 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $312.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.32. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $321.61. The firm has a market cap of $571.14 billion, a PE ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $330.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.