Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stock Position Lessened by Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 130,866 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,643 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 3.7% of Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $41,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Visa by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 1,032 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Phoenix Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Visa by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 964 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $353.73 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $325.14 and a 200 day moving average of $299.42. The company has a market capitalization of $657.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.66, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $356.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on V. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho upped their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.73.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.