Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $5.70 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 63.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,034 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 31,424 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,699,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE V opened at $350.45 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $328.47 and a 200-day moving average of $301.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $651.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $357.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on V. Citigroup raised their price objective on Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.