Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 101,864 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 9,943 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.5% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Visa were worth $32,193,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 519,233 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $164,098,000 after buying an additional 59,746 shares during the last quarter. Avalon Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Avalon Capital Management now owns 6,543 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,068,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Visa by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 63,709 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $20,135,000 after purchasing an additional 821 shares during the period. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,988,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade 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 the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $355.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $660.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $360.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $332.12 and a 200-day moving average of $304.62.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.96.

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.