Consolidated Investment Group LLC Sells 4,000 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Consolidated Investment Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,300 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.1% of Consolidated Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Consolidated Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $6,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. West Tower Group LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Financial Freedom LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 545.5% in the third quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC now owns 142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $278.78 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $279.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $258.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $511.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $216.14 and a 1 year high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at $62,716,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at $62,716,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,311 shares of company stock valued at $12,832,129 over the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup increased their target price on Visa from $296.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Visa from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.82.

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.