Foster Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Foster Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,575 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 218 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth about $731,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $616,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 75,456 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $23,847,000 after buying an additional 4,198 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $7,987,000. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC raised its stake in Visa by 5.2% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $111,331,000 after buying an additional 20,023 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of V stock opened at $342.05 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $351.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $317.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $292.45. The company has a market cap of $637.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.27.

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.