Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. Has $2.73 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,649 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 588 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.3% of Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of V. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,158,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $17,386,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 6,289 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,988,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 2,669 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $844,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Terra Alpha Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,954,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $334.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $338.39 and a 200-day moving average of $311.61. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $621.15 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,855 shares of company stock valued at $35,165,827 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

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.