Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 5,684 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 85,040 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,684 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Visa were worth $26,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,855 shares of company stock worth $35,165,827 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on V. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued 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 price target of $353.96.

Visa Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:V opened at $334.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $621.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $366.54. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $338.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $312.02. 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 released 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid 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 0.71%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

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.