Capital Investment Counsel Inc Cuts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc decreased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,666 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447 in the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $348.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $329.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $302.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $647.01 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $357.15.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

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.