Visteon (NASDAQ:VC) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Visteon (NASDAQ:VC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Sunday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $117.00 price objective on shares of Visteon in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Visteon from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Visteon from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Visteon from $148.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Visteon from $118.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.33.

Visteon Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VC opened at $87.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Visteon has a twelve month low of $65.10 and a twelve month high of $129.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $96.02 and its 200-day moving average is $104.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.29, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.15.

Visteon (NASDAQ:VC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.88. Visteon had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 17.94%. The business had revenue of $948.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $920.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.44 EPS. Visteon’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visteon will post 8.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visteon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. This is a positive change from Visteon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Visteon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.91%.

Insider Transactions at Visteon

In other Visteon news, CEO Sachin Lawande sold 49,453 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.44, for a total transaction of $4,620,888.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 175,527 shares in the company, valued at $16,401,242.88. This represents a 21.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Visteon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Visteon by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,863,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,267,000 after purchasing an additional 12,903 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visteon by 28.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,222,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,364,000 after buying an additional 494,820 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visteon by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,334,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,902,000 after acquiring an additional 187,347 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Visteon by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,253,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,220,000 after acquiring an additional 97,100 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Visteon by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,228,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,787,000 after purchasing an additional 46,601 shares during the period. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Visteon

Visteon Corporation is a global automotive electronics supplier that specializes in designing, engineering and manufacturing cockpit electronics and connected vehicle solutions. The company’s product portfolio spans digital instrument clusters, infotainment systems, domain controllers and advanced driver interaction technologies. By integrating hardware, software and services, Visteon aims to deliver complete cockpit electronics platforms that enhance driver experience, safety and connectivity.

Founded in 2000 as a spin-off from Ford Motor Company, Visteon has evolved its focus toward next-generation electronics and software-driven vehicle architectures.