Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Sells 2,826 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 49,830 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,826 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.7% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $15,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Visa by 2.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 566,729 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $155,822,000 after purchasing an additional 13,318 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Visa by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $566,153,000 after buying an additional 199,440 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 3,713 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, BCS Wealth Management boosted its stake in Visa by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter. BCS Wealth Management now owns 2,264 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho increased their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $353.73 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $356.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $325.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $298.94. The firm has a market cap of $657.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

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.