Avantax Planning Partners Inc. Has $2.78 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 12.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,795 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,064,179,000 after acquiring an additional 3,327,977 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,702,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,265,518 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,601,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,549 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,241,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,868,646,000 after acquiring an additional 718,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,597,969 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,188,862,000 after purchasing an additional 123,927 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 64,505 shares of company stock valued at $22,290,507. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on V shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $341.07 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $336.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $309.43. 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 stock has a market cap of $633.63 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Visa 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.