Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 1,428,569 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 11.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,122,577 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,428,569 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.3% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.60% of Visa worth $3,898,018,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dakota Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Visa by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 120,451 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $42,213,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 66.9% during the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 165,849 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $58,123,000 after purchasing an additional 66,463 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 78,755 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $27,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,270 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 168.3% in the 1st quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,169 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,667,000 after acquiring an additional 10,142 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.84.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V traded down $3.42 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $347.09. 4,887,324 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,809,815. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company's 50-day moving average price is $356.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $343.09. The company has a market cap of $640.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The business's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.51 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.