Leelyn Smith LLC Lowers Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Leelyn Smith LLC trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,086 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 0.9% of Leelyn Smith LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Leelyn Smith LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Visa by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $566,153,000 after purchasing an additional 199,440 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in Visa by 0.6% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the period. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth about $228,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at about $660,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 103,855 shares of company stock worth $35,165,827. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $334.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $621.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $338.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $311.61. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

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.