Golden State Equity Partners Increases Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Golden State Equity Partners grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 697.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,444 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 10,009 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.7% of Golden State Equity Partners’ portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Visa were worth $3,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE V opened at $345.31 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $318.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $293.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $643.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.81, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $351.25.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $2,930,800.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,983 shares of company stock worth $7,213,146. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.