Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA Reduces Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA cut its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,520 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 1.3% of Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Visa by 10.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $566,153,000 after acquiring an additional 199,440 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,242,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,730 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,425,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 5,688 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Cedrus LLC lifted its position in Visa by 2.6% in the third quarter. Cedrus LLC now owns 2,257 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $353.73 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $325.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $299.42. The company has a market capitalization of $657.15 billion, a PE ratio of 35.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $356.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

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 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on V. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna increased their target price on Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

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.