Sit Investment Associates Inc. Sells 7,483 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 76,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 7,483 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $24,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $313.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $582.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $345.02 and a 200 day moving average of $316.89.

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 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total value of $3,020,792.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $188,186.28. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America increased their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.84.

Visa Company Profile

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.