Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Decreases Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 577 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 2.3% of Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $137,000. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 30,085 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $9,508,000 after purchasing an additional 3,284 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $196,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Visa by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 23,804 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $7,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,762 shares during the period. Finally, Maia Wealth LLC raised its stake in Visa by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 10,285 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price target (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V opened at $361.60 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $333.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $306.64. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-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 company has a market cap of $671.77 billion, a PE ratio of 36.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

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.