Farther Finance Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,186 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 115 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $11,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Riverstone Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,163,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $24,475,000 after buying an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $331.93 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $337.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $309.89. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The company has a market capitalization of $616.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 64,505 shares of company stock valued at $22,290,507 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

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.