Congress Asset Management Co. Purchases 6,476 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 591,578 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 6,476 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.3% of Congress Asset Management Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Congress Asset Management Co.'s holdings in Visa were worth $186,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V traded down $2.22 on Friday, reaching $348.27. The company had a trading volume of 6,910,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,753,988. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $357.15. The stock has a market cap of $647.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.97. The company's fifty day moving average is $329.14 and its 200 day moving average is $302.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on V. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $355.31.

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.