Columbia Asset Management Reduces Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Columbia Asset Management cut its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 56,291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,586 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 3.3% of Columbia Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Columbia Asset Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $17,790,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of V. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Visa by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 7,283 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 1.0 %

V stock opened at $346.80 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $344.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $316.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $644.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

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, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’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 value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

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.