Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lowered its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,549,110 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 726,390 shares during the period. Visa makes up 5.6% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP owned approximately 0.19% of Visa worth $1,121,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $333.01 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $337.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $310.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $618.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on V shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,505 shares of company stock valued at $22,290,507 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.