Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,206 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 1.1% of Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,511 shares of company stock worth $15,131,081 over the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $271.34 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.14 and a 52 week high of $290.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $498.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.22, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $279.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $262.49.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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. Monness Crespi & Hardt began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $296.87.

Visa Company 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.