Welch & Forbes LLC Reduces Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 757,672 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 4,295 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 3.0% of Welch & Forbes LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $197,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Nadler Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Visa by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $495,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,427,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 10.1% in the third quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Richelieu Gestion SA purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $307,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $303.00.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,724 shares of company stock valued at $3,278,698 over the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:V traded up $4.18 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $272.67. 3,931,997 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,881,426. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $498.70 billion, a PE ratio of 30.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.14 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $277.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $266.06.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Visa Company 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.

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