Smith Group Asset Management LLC Sells 527 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 20.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,068 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 527 shares during the quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 101.4% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $342.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $637.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $351.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $317.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on V shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $322.00 to $368.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.27.

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.