State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Raises Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 612,401 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 29,097 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 0.8% of State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Visa were worth $193,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V traded down $1.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $349.02. 3,789,798 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,653,773. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $328.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $301.39. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $357.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $648.41 billion, a PE ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.97. 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 (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (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, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $355.31.

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.