MWA Asset Management Trims Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

MWA Asset Management decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 88 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 2.0% of MWA Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. MWA Asset Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Affiance Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 5.4% in the third quarter. Affiance Financial LLC now owns 954 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Martin Capital Advisors LLP grew its holdings in Visa by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 11,221 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,085,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 163,901 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $45,065,000 after acquiring an additional 1,575 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 113,108 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,099,000 after acquiring an additional 3,903 shares during the period. Finally, Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd boosted its position in shares of Visa by 75.7% in the third quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 19,554 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,376,000 after acquiring an additional 8,422 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on V shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $351.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $351.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $296.19. The firm has a market cap of $652.56 billion, a PE ratio of 35.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. 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 presently 23.79%.

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.