Advisors Capital Management LLC Trims Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Advisors Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,780 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,544 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $21,737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 17,018.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,729,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,926 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $333.69 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54. The company has a market capitalization of $619.91 billion, a PE ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $342.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $318.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

About Visa

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.