State of Michigan Retirement System Lowers Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

State of Michigan Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 594,223 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,800 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.0% of State of Michigan Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Visa were worth $202,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sonoma Allocations LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $710,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,241,348 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $438,196,000 after acquiring an additional 21,401 shares during the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Visa by 5.9% during the second quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 95,150 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,783,000 after acquiring an additional 5,295 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its stake in Visa by 2.6% during the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $198,596,000 after acquiring an additional 14,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $281,045,000 after purchasing an additional 159,906 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $331.82 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $604.49 billion, a PE ratio of 31.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The business has a 50-day moving average of $338.50 and a 200-day moving average of $340.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.75 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total transaction of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Citigroup raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $392.29.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.