Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $29.39 Million Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,000 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 0.6% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Visa were worth $29,392,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in Visa by 48.5% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth $31,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on V. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $355.52 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $356.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $323.36 and a 200-day moving average of $297.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $660.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted 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 net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.