Venator Management LLC Sells 2,600 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Venator Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 103,155 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,600 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 9.4% of Venator Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Venator Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $32,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,576,366,000 after purchasing an additional 411,210 shares in the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management acquired a new stake in Visa in the third quarter worth $256,000. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY boosted its position in shares of Visa by 0.5% during the third quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 120,643 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $33,171,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 13,830 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,803,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $342.62 on Monday. The company 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 has a 50-day moving average of $343.60 and a 200-day moving average of $315.49. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on V shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Visa

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.