Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 2,787 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,418 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,787 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 2.5% of Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $14,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth $69,000. Passumpsic Savings Bank lifted its holdings in Visa by 2.0% during the third quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 9,137 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,512,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 101.5% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 44,984 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,368,000 after purchasing an additional 22,658 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Trading Up 3.6 %

NYSE:V opened at $331.74 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The stock has a market cap of $616.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $339.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $321.41.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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.