Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,476 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 78 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 0.8% of Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Visa by 3.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 72,897,112 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $16,435,339,000 after buying an additional 2,572,159 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 51,122,866 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,621,287,000 after acquiring an additional 5,864,340 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Visa by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 116,608.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,504,130 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,090,978,000 after purchasing an additional 24,483,134 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Visa by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 18,879,347 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,483,466,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Visa from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.82.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 55,511 shares of company stock valued at $15,131,081. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $276.72 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $216.14 and a one year high of $290.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $280.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $508.20 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The firm had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.94%.

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.