Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 89,356 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,259,674 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 89,356 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 0.8% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.23% of Visa worth $1,109,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in Visa by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Visa by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,143 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $818,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP boosted its stake in Visa by 18.4% during the 2nd quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parker Financial LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 925 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total value of $2,228,128.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 55,511 shares of company stock valued at $15,131,081. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen began coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Visa from $296.00 to $306.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $296.87.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $271.28 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.14 and a 1 year high of $290.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $280.04 and a 200-day moving average of $262.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $498.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.94%.

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.