The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 221,685 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,792,620 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 221,685 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.10% of Visa worth $492,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Qsemble Capital Management LP grew its position in Visa by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 20,379 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,603,000 after acquiring an additional 4,829 shares during the last quarter. Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth approximately $749,000. Associated Banc Corp increased its stake in shares of Visa by 2.9% in the third quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 13,573 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,732,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 4,539 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 5,314 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,461,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $312.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $289.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $277.58. The firm has a market cap of $582.71 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $251.61 and a 1-year high of $313.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $321.00 price objective (up previously from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong 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 $321.74.

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.