IMS Capital Management Reduces Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

IMS Capital Management decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,912 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.6% of IMS Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. IMS Capital Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,449,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $353.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $356.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $325.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $298.94. The stock has a market cap of $657.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.66, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on V shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

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.