Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Trims Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 49.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 850 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 830 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 0.8% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,073,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,927,122,000 after purchasing an additional 763,505 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,272,846,000 after purchasing an additional 374,489 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,824,113 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,078,408,000 after purchasing an additional 85,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 7,542,434 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,734,835,000 after purchasing an additional 108,280 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total value of $2,228,128.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total value of $2,228,128.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,965 shares of company stock worth $5,256,352. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $273.46 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $279.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $263.97. The firm has a market cap of $502.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.14 and a 1 year high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 51.72% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.58.

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.