Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Sells 5,357 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,048 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,357 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.6% of Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $9,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $334.30 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $338.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $312.02. The company has a market capitalization of $621.06 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 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 $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 103,855 shares of company stock valued at $35,165,827. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on V. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

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.