Bailard Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Bailard Inc. reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 160,499 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 391 shares during the period. Visa makes up 1.3% of Bailard Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $50,724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $363.33 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $333.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $305.97. The company has a market cap of $674.99 billion, a PE ratio of 36.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $364.00.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on V shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.