Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Lowers Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,064 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 42 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in Visa by 48.5% in 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. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 377.3% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Down 0.6%

Visa stock opened at $371.11 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $348.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $337.17. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $684.76 billion, a PE ratio of 37.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total transaction of $13,395,133.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,991,249.33. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $2,978,899.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $185,576.46. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,448 shares of company stock valued at $50,133,659. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on V shares. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Macquarie lowered their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.80.

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.