Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stake Lowered by Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,068 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 14,234 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Visa were worth $28,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Visa by 970.0% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 211.9% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The trade was a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $312.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $289.96 and a 200-day moving average of $277.58. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $251.61 and a one year high of $313.66. The company has a market cap of $582.71 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on V. BNP Paribas raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $317.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

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.