Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 331,117 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,619 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 2.0% of Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $104,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of V. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,554,000. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 44,038 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $13,918,000 after acquiring an additional 1,705 shares during the period. Wagner Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,342 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,164 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $684,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Finally, RAM Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. RAM Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $350.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $651.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $321.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $296.88. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $352.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.73.

About Visa

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.