Fairfield Bush & CO. Decreases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Fairfield Bush & CO. lowered its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,549 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 35 shares during the period. Fairfield Bush & CO.’s holdings in Visa were worth $806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Visa by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,729,901,000 after buying an additional 1,689,926 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $5,171,271,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,241,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,868,646,000 after buying an additional 718,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,758,703 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,084,141,000 after acquiring an additional 173,990 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $331.35 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $615.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $341.55 and a 200-day moving average of $319.71.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly 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, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total value of $3,020,792.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $188,186.28. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note 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 stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

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.