Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stock Position Cut by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 293,556 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 9,014 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.7% of Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Visa were worth $80,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 970.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 211.9% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $312.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $581.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $317.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $296.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.98.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Compass Point began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $319.00 target price for the company. Finally, Macquarie upped their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.41.

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.