Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 14.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,096,706 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,419,007 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 0.7% of Franklin Resources Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,764,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 287.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 344.8% during the 3rd quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 129 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of V opened at $314.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $570.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.78. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $328.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $336.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The company had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.75 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total transaction of $3,661,152.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Truist Financial set a $372.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Evercore set a $380.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $392.65.

Visa Profile

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.