Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,412 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,242 shares during the quarter. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Up 1.4 %

V opened at $355.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $360.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $332.12 and a 200-day moving average of $304.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $660.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America increased their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

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.