Smart Portfolios LLC Decreases Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Smart Portfolios LLC decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,924 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 110 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 1.3% of Smart Portfolios LLC’s holdings, 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 reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th 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 bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 64,505 shares of company stock worth $22,290,507 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on V shares. 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. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Visa Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE V opened at $331.93 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $616.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.46, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $337.01 and its two-hundred 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 for the quarter, topping 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 anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

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.