Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $2.66 Million Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,206 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 875 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.1% of Sentry Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,657,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 545.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC now owns 142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.0 %

V opened at $271.34 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.14 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $498.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.22, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $279.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $262.49.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.94%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total value of $2,228,128.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the business’s 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 approximately $62,716,662.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,511 shares of company stock worth $15,131,081. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Monness Crespi & Hardt initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $296.87.

Visa 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.