Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 607,148 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 131,870 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 1.1% of Candriam S.C.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Visa were worth $191,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Visa by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $566,153,000 after purchasing an additional 199,440 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the period. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at about $228,000. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 6.3% during the third quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 8,093 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the period. Finally, Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its position in Visa by 3.8% in the third quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 8,590 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,362,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 target price (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $343.81 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. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $335.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $307.80. The stock has a market cap of $638.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.66, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 64,505 shares of company stock worth $22,290,507 in the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.