Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stake Reduced by DnB Asset Management AS

DnB Asset Management AS decreased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 16.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,086,216 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 407,040 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 2.9% of DnB Asset Management AS’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Visa were worth $659,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Riverstone Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its position in Visa by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the period. King Wealth Management Group increased its position in shares of Visa by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $23,663,000 after purchasing an additional 6,172 shares during the period. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $10,163,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth about $616,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 1.6 %

V stock opened at $349.82 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $343.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $314.66. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $649.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid 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 yield of 0.67%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price target (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Visa Company 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.