South Dakota Investment Council Has $32.75 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

South Dakota Investment Council lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 125,793 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 8,803 shares during the period. Visa comprises 0.7% of South Dakota Investment Council’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Visa were worth $32,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 17,418.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,710,188 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $358,349,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,965 shares of company stock worth $5,256,352 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $275.04 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.14 and a twelve month high of $290.96. The firm has a market cap of $505.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $279.44 and a 200-day moving average of $263.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 51.72% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $307.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.58.

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.