Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Decreases Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS reduced its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 74,761 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 528 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Visa were worth $23,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $731,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after buying an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $616,000. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $24,475,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $350.45 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $328.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $301.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $651.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $357.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

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, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 0.67%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.