Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 99.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,098 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 742,797 shares during the quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $716,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc increased its stake in shares of Visa by 287.0% in the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the second quarter worth $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the second quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC grew its position in Visa by 344.8% during the 3rd quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 129 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Up 0.7%

V stock opened at $319.07 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $333.00 and its 200 day moving average is $338.09. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The stock has a market cap of $579.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on V shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $411.00 target price (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Evercore set a $380.00 price target on Visa in a report on Friday, December 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $391.43.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.