Magellan Asset Management Ltd Trims Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 26.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 978,707 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 344,993 shares during the period. Visa makes up 3.4% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned 0.05% of Visa worth $309,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,064,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,977 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,729,901,000 after buying an additional 1,689,926 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $5,171,271,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,241,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,868,646,000 after buying an additional 718,558 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $346.49 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $345.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $316.58. The company has a market cap of $643.70 billion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly 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%. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued 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 payout ratio is 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Five equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.84.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $2,930,800.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,585 shares of company stock worth $45,821,697. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.