Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Lowers Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,601,542 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 691,590 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.7% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.12% of Visa worth $5,363,611,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of V. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Visa by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,107 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,330,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its position in Visa by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,143 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $818,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parker Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 925 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock traded up $2.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $280.74. 8,986,581 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,008,364. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.14 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $513.46 billion, a PE ratio of 31.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $277.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $267.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The firm's revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on V. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued 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 $303.00.

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.

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