Fmr LLC Has $17.53 Billion Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Fmr LLC reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 55,477,409 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,634,434 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.0% of Fmr LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Fmr LLC owned 2.99% of Visa worth $17,533,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.6% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd 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. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $69,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 246,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $67,698,000 after purchasing an additional 17,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 526,069 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $144,643,000 after purchasing an additional 17,493 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on V. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Visa Stock Down 7.6 %

Visa stock opened at $313.46 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $345.02 and a 200-day moving average of $317.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $582.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.