Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,471,121 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 25,721 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 1.0% of New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.08% of Visa worth $464,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Riverstone Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $217,000. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth about $731,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC raised its stake in Visa by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares during the period. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $24,475,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE V opened at $353.73 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $356.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $657.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.66, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $325.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $299.19.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

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.