Sepio Capital LP Trims Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sepio Capital LP reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,292 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.8% of Sepio Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $9,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of V. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $724,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Visa by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. raised its stake in Visa by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 7,283 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 7.6 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $313.46 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $345.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $317.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54. The company has a market cap of $582.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. 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 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total transaction of $13,395,133.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,991,249.33. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.