American Century Companies Inc. Sells 1,771,589 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

American Century Companies Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 38.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,813,460 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,771,589 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 0.5% of American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.15% of Visa worth $889,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,248,079,000 after buying an additional 3,926,049 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,702,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,265,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,549 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $336.51 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $340.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $312.82. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The stock has a market cap of $625.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price objective (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned 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 price target of $353.96.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.