Advisors Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Advisors Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 202,052 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,532 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 1.2% of Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $68,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc grew its stake in shares of Visa by 287.0% during the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $328.04 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $338.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $340.36. The stock has a market cap of $595.45 billion, a PE ratio of 30.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $299.00 and a 12 month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.75 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total transaction of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total transaction of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,608,789.09. This trade represents a 7.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Daiwa Securities Group raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Evercore set a $380.00 target price on Visa in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Daiwa America raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $392.21.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.