Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Trims Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 167,335 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 7,551 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 0.5% of Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $52,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Visa by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 826,929 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $261,343,000 after buying an additional 75,255 shares in the last quarter. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $419,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in Visa by 44,126.7% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 33,170 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,483,000 after acquiring an additional 33,095 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 866 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:V opened at $349.82 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54. 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. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $343.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $314.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 target price (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.84.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total value of $13,395,133.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,991,249.33. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.