Vantage Investment Partners LLC Sells 1,500 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Vantage Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,534 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $8,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 1.2% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 101,450 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 18,396 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,829,000 after purchasing an additional 7,734 shares in the last quarter. Ashburton Jersey Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $14,347,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,300,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its stake in Visa by 79.0% during the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 179 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $343.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $639.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.28, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $316.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $292.09. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $344.44.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. Equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $335.52.

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.