Fred Alger Management LLC Sells 185,300 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Fred Alger Management LLC lessened its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 15.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 983,315 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 185,300 shares during the period. Visa makes up 1.3% of Fred Alger Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Fred Alger Management LLC owned about 0.05% of Visa worth $270,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 970.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 211.9% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $315.07. The company had a trading volume of 3,853,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,972,360. The firm has a market capitalization of $586.94 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $291.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $278.31. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.14 and a one year high of $316.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business's revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is an increase from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa's payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $317.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $321.74.

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.