Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 52.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 276,183 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 301,082 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $87,285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Visa by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 17,018.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926,049 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.7%

Visa stock opened at $367.76 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $369.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $678.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.07, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $339.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $330.43.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on V shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI started coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Macquarie reduced their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.38.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total transaction of $5,259,207.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,377,671.52. This represents a 35.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.