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

Everence Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,153 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 730 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 0.9% of Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $13,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 101.4% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the second quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on V. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $329.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

V traded down $0.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $313.72. 1,574,483 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,402,375. 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 stock has a market cap of $584.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $321.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $309.06 and a 200 day moving average of $285.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

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.