Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by North Star Asset Management Inc.

North Star Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,808 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,415 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 2.0% of North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $39,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 545.5% during the third quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC now owns 142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $71,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.43.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $272.31 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.14 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $500.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $279.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $263.62.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The firm had revenue of $8.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.18 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,965 shares of company stock worth $5,256,352. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.