Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stake Lowered by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 63.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,034 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 31,424 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in Visa were worth $5,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the third quarter worth about $31,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% during 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 period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Visa stock traded down $2.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $348.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,910,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,753,988. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $357.15. The stock has a market cap of $647.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $328.47 and a 200-day moving average of $301.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid 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 payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $355.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value 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 Company 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.