Guardian Investment Management Sells 2,260 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Guardian Investment Management cut its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 19.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,280 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,260 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 2.0% of Guardian Investment Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Guardian Investment Management's holdings in Visa were worth $2,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 101.4% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Down 0.2 %

V traded down $0.81 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $322.82. 2,401,058 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,484,071. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $313.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $289.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $601.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $325.74.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. This is an increase from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $332.81.

Visa Company 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.