Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 452,060 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 5,982 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 0.9% of Arizona State Retirement System's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Visa were worth $117,694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,143 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $818,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP grew its stake in shares of Visa by 18.4% during the second quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 270 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Parker Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 925 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE V traded up $3.14 on Friday, reaching $277.14. 4,368,406 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,855,071. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.14 and a 12 month high of $290.96. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $280.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $260.26. The company has a market cap of $508.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The business had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.18 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. Visa's payout ratio is 23.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James raised their target price on Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Mizuho reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Visa from $296.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $295.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at $62,716,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at $62,716,662.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,511 shares of company stock worth $15,131,081. 0.19% of the stock is owned by 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.