Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Position Cut by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,243,393 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 854,788 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 2.4% of Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 1.20% of Visa worth $7,029,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 $48,560,961. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Visa Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of V stock opened at $342.62 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $343.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.49. The company has a market capitalization of $636.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

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.