Skylands Capital LLC Reduces Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Skylands Capital LLC lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,530 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,125 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 1.9% of Skylands Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $12,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the third quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,930 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $904,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Towerpoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $216,000. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $3,427,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 10.1% in the third quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on V. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $307.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 19,874 shares of company stock worth $5,506,827. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $2.29 on Monday, hitting $272.23. 1,634,182 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,898,313. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $279.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $264.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $499.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.46, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $216.14 and a one year high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s payout ratio is 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.