Sowa Financial Group Inc. Has $4.65 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sowa Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,719 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 749 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 2.9% of Sowa Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Sowa Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Visa by 101.4% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $323.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $602.73 billion, a PE ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $313.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $289.47. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $325.74.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.81.

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.