West Family Investments Inc. Sells 205 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

West Family Investments Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,604 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 205 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 0.6% of West Family Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $343.81 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $335.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $307.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $638.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on V. Barclays upped 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. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 64,505 shares of company stock valued at $22,290,507. 0.13% of the stock is currently 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.