Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Associated Banc Corp

Associated Banc Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,568 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,005 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in V. Riverstone Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC grew its stake in Visa by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after buying an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group grew its stake in Visa by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $23,663,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $10,163,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $616,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

Visa Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $331.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $337.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $310.90. The company has a market capitalization of $616.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’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 transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,855 shares of company stock worth $35,165,827 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.