Peregrine Capital Management LLC Sells 35,554 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 189,956 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 35,554 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.8% of Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $60,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 10.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,059,111 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $566,153,000 after acquiring an additional 199,440 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Visa by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,242,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 66,988 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $18,418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,430 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 169,759 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $46,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segment Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 1.8% in the third quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 65,308 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $17,957,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,447. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 1.3 %

Visa stock opened at $350.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $651.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.33, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $357.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $328.47 and its 200 day moving average is $301.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on V. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie lifted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 target price (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

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.