Bank Hapoalim BM Reduces Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Bank Hapoalim BM trimmed its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,191 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 416 shares during the period. Bank Hapoalim BM’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Visa by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,702,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,265,518 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 7.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772,549 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,597,969 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,188,862,000 after purchasing an additional 123,927 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,522,445 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,168,096,000 after purchasing an additional 670,590 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on V. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,983 shares of company stock valued at $7,213,146. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE V opened at $347.28 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $351.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $646.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $319.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $294.76.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued 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 net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s payout ratio is 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.