Sovran Advisors LLC Takes $1.18 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,803 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $217,000. Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $731,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the third quarter worth about $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $24,475,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $351.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $322.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $297.52. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $352.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $652.88 billion, a PE ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value 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 trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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. Insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.