Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Cuts Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC cut its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 706,543 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 96,568 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $223,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 17,018.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,248,079,000 after buying an additional 3,926,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Visa by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of V traded up $3.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $365.43. The stock had a trading volume of 8,725,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,023,744. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $369.15. The firm has a market cap of $674.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The business's fifty day moving average is $342.99 and its 200 day moving average is $333.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total transaction of $5,259,207.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,377,671.52. This represents a 35.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on V. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $366.13.

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.