Sit Investment Associates Inc. Lowers Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 7,483 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $24,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its position in Visa by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group boosted its position in Visa by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $23,663,000 after purchasing an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $10,163,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $616,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $313.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $582.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $345.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $316.89. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

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.