Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 197 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,011 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 197 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE V opened at $342.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $343.60 and its 200 day moving average is $315.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $636.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on V. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.84.

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.