Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Reduces Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lessened its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 982,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 74,091 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned about 0.05% of Visa worth $310,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $344.05 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $342.50 and its 200-day moving average is $314.42. The stock has a market cap of $639.17 billion, a PE ratio of 34.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share 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, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 price objective (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

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.