New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 45,283 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,425,838 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 45,283 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.2% of New York State Teachers Retirement System's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Visa worth $499,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $12,729,901,000 after buying an additional 1,689,926 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Visa by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,526,660,000 after acquiring an additional 866,596 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $7,356,614,000 after acquiring an additional 241,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Visa by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on V shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.84.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 92,478 shares of company stock valued at $33,717,733 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V traded down $1.48 on Wednesday, hitting $353.99. The stock had a trading volume of 5,130,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,860,270. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $354.48 and a 200-day moving average of $340.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $653.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.