Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Sells 11,560 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,681,657 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 11,560 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 0.9% of Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Visa were worth $847,511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Visa by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,601,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772,549 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $5,171,271,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,241,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,868,646,000 after acquiring an additional 718,558 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $349.82 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $343.15 and a 200 day moving average of $314.66. The firm has a market cap of $649.89 billion, a PE ratio of 35.26, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America upped their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price objective (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

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.