Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s 7th Largest Position

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,552,938 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 303,670 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 326.2% of Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,019,111,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Down 0.2 %

V opened at $344.05 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $342.50 and a 200-day moving average of $314.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $639.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

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.