Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Sawgrass Asset Management LLC

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lessened its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 52,656 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,911 shares during the period. Visa makes up 1.5% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $14,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,263 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Visa by 16.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 58,506 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $16,328,000 after acquiring an additional 8,086 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at $2,499,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,166 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Visa by 12.9% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,563 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $309.64 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $245.60 and a 1-year high of $312.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $287.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $275.95. The company has a market capitalization of $564.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $321.00 price target (up from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.74.

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.