Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Decreases Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 88.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 461 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,644 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 0.0% of Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Joseph Group Capital Management lifted its position in Visa by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 15,112 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,366,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. Summit X LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 97.3% in the second quarter. Summit X LLC now owns 17,136 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,084,000 after purchasing an additional 8,451 shares during the last quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 28.9% during the second quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,561 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. PFG Advisors boosted its position in Visa by 21.4% in the second quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 31,749 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,272,000 after buying an additional 5,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT boosted its position in Visa by 1.8% in the second quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 51,438 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $18,263,000 after buying an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $323.87 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $299.00 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $341.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $348.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $590.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.87.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.The company had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,117. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $830,432.64. This represents a 26.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 21,870 shares of company stock worth $7,467,233 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several research reports. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.00.

About Visa

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.