Level Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Level Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 5,860 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $1,852,000. Visa comprises approximately 1.3% of Level Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 45,189.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,758,505 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,683,101,000 after buying an additional 9,736,958 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Visa by 4.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Visa by 6.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after buying an additional 3,265,518 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 7.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after buying an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at about $268,640,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of V opened at $345.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $643.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $351.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $318.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $293.81. 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 (NYSE:V) last posted 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,983 shares of company stock valued at $7,213,146. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.