Financial Advisory Partners LLC Has $4.04 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Financial Advisory Partners LLC lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,795 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 48 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.3% of Financial Advisory Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Financial Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $348.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $648.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $295.12. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $351.25.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

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.