Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 30.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,866 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 11,920 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Visa were worth $8,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 377.3% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on V. UBS Group lifted their price target on Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $366.13.

Visa Trading Up 0.8%

V traded up $3.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $365.43. 8,725,642 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,023,748. The firm's fifty day moving average is $343.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $333.54. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $369.15. 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 company has a market cap of $674.28 billion, a PE ratio of 36.84, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Company 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.