Clearbridge Investments LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Clearbridge Investments LLC cut its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,850,347 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 454,242 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 2.5% of Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,113,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew 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 during the period. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $342.62 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two 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 stock has a market cap of $636.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $343.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $315.27.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released 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 return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Visa Company 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.