Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Sheets Smith Wealth Management

Sheets Smith Wealth Management lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,093 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,611 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 2.1% of Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $18,125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $57,711,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,575 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,253,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,631 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its stake in Visa by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,769,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429,996 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,608,789.09. The trade was a 7.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 24,042 shares of company stock worth $8,175,152 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on V. Bank of America raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $402.52.

Visa Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $355.09 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $338.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $344.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $646.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.82.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

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

Visa Company 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.