Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 537 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $8,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 101.4% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Down 0.3 %

V stock opened at $342.05 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $351.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $637.19 billion, a PE ratio of 35.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $317.09 and a 200-day moving average of $292.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.27.

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.