Jennison Associates LLC Decreases Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,723,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,370,696 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 1.5% of Jennison Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,440,856,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Visa by 13.4% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 340,238 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $93,548,000 after acquiring an additional 40,268 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 3,584 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,350 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,670,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,377 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Country Trust Bank raised its holdings in Visa by 0.3% in the third quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 270,906 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $74,486,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie boosted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $349.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $650.64 billion, a PE ratio of 35.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $319.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.37. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $351.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,983 shares of company stock worth $7,213,146 in the last quarter. Company 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.