Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Reduces Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 18.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,551,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,842,428 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.3% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.68% of Visa worth $3,966,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,292,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 0.4% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $346.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $644.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.96, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $344.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $316.37.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on V. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 target price (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total transaction of $13,395,133.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,991,249.33. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.