Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Eads & Heald Wealth Management

Eads & Heald Wealth Management lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,399 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.5% of Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Visa Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $330.20 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $314.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.98. The company has a market capitalization of $615.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $331.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $334.58.

About Visa

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.