Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 63.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,034 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 31,424 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth about $31,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:V opened at $350.45 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $357.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $651.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $328.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $301.39.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 target price (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie raised their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

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.