AKO Capital LLP Sells 33,630 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

AKO Capital LLP lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,757,145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 33,630 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 7.7% of AKO Capital LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. AKO Capital LLP’s holdings in Visa were worth $555,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price objective (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their price target on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were 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 is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $344.05 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $342.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $314.42. 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 firm has a market cap of $639.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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.