ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 340 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,444 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 340 shares during the period. Visa makes up 2.3% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $44,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 545.5% during the third quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC now owns 142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $298.43.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $269.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $279.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $263.12. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.14 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96. The firm has a market cap of $495.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The business had revenue of $8.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.18 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,965 shares of company stock worth $5,256,352. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.