Cerity Partners LLC Sells 40,424 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Cerity Partners LLC trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 897,281 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 40,424 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 0.6% of Cerity Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $276,413,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the period. King Wealth Management Group boosted its position in shares of Visa by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $23,663,000 after purchasing an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $10,163,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at about $616,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $313.46 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $582.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $345.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $317.27. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on V shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 target price (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was 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 $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.