Liberty One Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Liberty One Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,241 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Visa by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of V stock opened at $319.97 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $321.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $596.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $313.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.73.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on V. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Visa from $325.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.92.

Visa 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.