Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stake Cut by Martingale Asset Management L P

Martingale Asset Management L P cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,373 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 7,235 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.1% of Martingale Asset Management L P's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Martingale Asset Management L P's holdings in Visa were worth $43,415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on V. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Seven investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $355.84.

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Visa Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of V traded up $9.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $333.69. 6,802,196 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,274,529. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $342.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $319.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $619.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $188,186.28. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, 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.

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.