Arizona State Retirement System Cuts Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its Visa stake by 2.9% in Q4, selling 14,579 shares and leaving 485,236 shares worth $170.18 million — Visa is about 0.9% of the fund's portfolio and its 13th largest holding.
• Institutional ownership is high at 82.15%, and analysts maintain a consensus "Buy" rating with an average price target of $387.79 amid recent upgrades and coverage changes.
• Recent results: Visa beat Q4 EPS and revenue estimates with revenue up 14.6% year‑over‑year, and it pays a quarterly dividend of $0.67 (roughly a 0.9% yield).

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 485,236 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 14,579 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.9% of Arizona State Retirement System's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Visa were worth $170,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AGP Franklin LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. AGP Franklin LLC now owns 9,475 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,323,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,586 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,570,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Diversified Enterprises LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 39.9% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC now owns 12,071 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,233,000 after buying an additional 3,444 shares during the period. Kerusso Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 12,938 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,537,000 after buying an additional 3,093 shares during the period. Finally, Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,068 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,653,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 target price on the stock. Macquarie Infrastructure restated an "outperform" rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Freedom Capital upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Visa from $425.00 to $390.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Visa from $372.00 to $361.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $387.79.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $309.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $562.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.05, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $309.88 and a 200-day moving average of $328.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The business's revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.75 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 12.84 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.14%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.