Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,048,024 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 81,933 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.8% of California Public Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.22% of Visa worth $1,053,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 17,418.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,737,229 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,233,338,000 after acquiring an additional 4,710,188 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Visa by 4.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,582,785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257,605 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $358,349,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Visa by 34.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,929,979 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $903,955,000 after acquiring an additional 999,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Visa by 28.0% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,983,190 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $916,174,000 after acquiring an additional 871,439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on V shares. KeyCorp increased their target price on Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $298.43.

Visa Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $274.23 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $503.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.14 and a 52-week high of $290.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $279.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.90.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.55 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.18 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.94%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.