Clearbridge Investments LLC Cuts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Clearbridge Investments LLC cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,850,347 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 454,242 shares during the period. Visa makes up 2.5% of Clearbridge Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 0.53% of Visa worth $3,113,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in Visa by 0.6% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Visa by 110.5% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 27,957 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $7,687,000 after acquiring an additional 14,675 shares in the last quarter. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Visa by 15.8% in the third quarter. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,278 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Circle Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,910 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on V. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Visa Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $342.62 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $343.60 and a 200-day moving average of $315.27. The stock has a market cap of $636.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54. 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 (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total value of $13,395,133.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,991,249.33. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.