O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in Visa Inc. $V

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC cut its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:VFree Report) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 414,539 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 7,061 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 0.8% of O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $145,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $5,877,738,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Visa by 110.4% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,396,930,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075,289 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in Visa by 286.4% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,526,026 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $862,335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872,362 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Visa by 121.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,022,411 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,059,990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth about $565,684,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $387.78.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Visa

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $324.03 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $581.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $316.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $324.48.

Visa (NYSE:VGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 EPS. Visa’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

Visa Profile

(Free Report)

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

See Also

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Visa (NYSE:V)

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