Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stock Position Lessened by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,243,393 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 854,788 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 2.4% of Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,029,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE V opened at $342.62 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $636.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.54, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $343.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $315.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on V. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned 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 a consensus price target of $355.84.

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.