Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Trims Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 49.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,873 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,817 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Visa were worth $592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC grew its position in Visa by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,292,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. increased its holdings in Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 7,283 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded down $2.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $329.26. 5,640,095 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,227,437. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $611.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.19, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $340.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $320.44.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total value of $3,020,792.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,186.28. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Bank of America increased their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $355.84.

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.