Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc’s 8th Largest Position

Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,966 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,594 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 3.7% of Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $323.76 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $603.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.27, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $324.58. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $313.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.09.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Visa’s payout ratio is 24.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.92.

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.