GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 254,190 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,877 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 9.2% of GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.'s holdings in Visa were worth $80,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of V. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $29,242,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,576,366,000 after buying an additional 411,210 shares during the last quarter. Atom Investors LP raised its holdings in Visa by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 44,687 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $12,287,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 1,620.7% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 72,890 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $20,046,000 after acquiring an additional 68,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.8% during the third quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,101 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,128,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

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Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Trading Up 0.0 %

V traded up $0.14 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $346.49. 5,667,347 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,155,363. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $366.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $344.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $316.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $643.70 billion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa's payout ratio is 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $383.00 price objective (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $355.84.

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.