Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Saratoga Research & Investment Management

Saratoga Research & Investment Management cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 175,677 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 8,845 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 2.8% of Saratoga Research & Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Saratoga Research & Investment Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $55,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after acquiring an additional 3,327,977 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,601,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,549 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,171,271,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,241,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,868,646,000 after purchasing an additional 718,558 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 target price (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, 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 valued at $48,560,961 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $342.62 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $343.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.49. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $636.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

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.