Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Purchased by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 68,959 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,659 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $21,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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. Insiders have 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.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $356.04 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $326.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $300.04. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $356.74. The firm has a market cap of $661.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.89, a PEG ratio of 2.32 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.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on V shares. Bank of America increased their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.