Consulta Ltd Trims Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Consulta Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 625,000 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 65,000 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 12.9% of Consulta Ltd's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Consulta Ltd's holdings in Visa were worth $197,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on V. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $362.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % 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, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 143,208 shares of company stock worth $48,905,978. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $348.28 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. 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 stock has a market cap of $647.02 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $337.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $325.63.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Visa's payout ratio is 23.72%.

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.

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