Principle Wealth Partners LLC Sells 272 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,618 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 272 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.9% of Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $12,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Visa by 4.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,265,518 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,597,969 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,188,862,000 after acquiring an additional 123,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,522,445 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,168,096,000 after purchasing an additional 670,590 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $351.43 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $652.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $322.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $297.52. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $352.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

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.