Mirova Cuts Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Mirova lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,993 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,287 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 2.4% of Mirova's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Mirova's holdings in Visa were worth $13,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the period. King Wealth Management Group grew its stake in Visa by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $23,663,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,163,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $616,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of V traded up $3.09 on Wednesday, hitting $334.49. 8,904,251 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,224,018. The firm has a market capitalization of $621.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The stock's 50 day moving average is $339.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $321.41.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on V shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $355.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.