Jennison Associates LLC Sells 2,034,701 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Jennison Associates LLC reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 18.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,093,947 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,034,701 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.6% of Jennison Associates LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.50% of Visa worth $2,500,381,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of V. Unionview LLC boosted its position in Visa by 1.5% during the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. St. Louis Trust Co lifted its position in Visa by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 3,885 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.1% during the third quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 0.3% in the third quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 13,933 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,831,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 270 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of V traded down $5.00 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $306.85. 2,924,281 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,956,417. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $250.03 and a 52 week high of $312.44. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $276.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $559.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.74, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa's payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $321.00 target price (up previously from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $321.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

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.