Sierra Ocean LLC Buys Shares of 982 Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 982 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $104,000. Monument Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 6,354 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,492,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the period. Opes Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 859 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $354.95 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $659.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $357.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business’s 50-day moving average is $327.75 and its 200-day moving average is $301.05.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

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.