Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 391,870 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 9,712 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 1.9% of HM Payson & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $133,777,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,185,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC increased its position in Visa by 2.9% in the second quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 1.6% in the third quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $640,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Old Port Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the third quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 3,423 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,169,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Interchange Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 0.5% during the second quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,413 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,276,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total transaction of $707,919.96. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,557 shares of company stock valued at $4,586,137. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Macquarie decreased their price objective on Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.52.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $353.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $644.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $299.00 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $338.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $343.82.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.25%.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.