Visa Inc. $V Stock: Baskin Financial Services Inc. Reduces Holdings

Baskin Financial Services Inc. reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 162,731 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,899 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 4.7% of Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $58,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its position in Visa by 58.1% during the first quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543 shares in the last quarter. Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at $829,000. Beacon Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 83.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 22,501 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,801,000 after purchasing an additional 10,267 shares in the last quarter. XXEC Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 153,118.8% in the 2nd quarter. XXEC Inc. now owns 186,260,448 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $63,904,097,000 after purchasing an additional 186,138,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Visa by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,343,195 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $803,925,000 after purchasing an additional 445,775 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on V. Bank of America boosted their price target on Visa from $410.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $430.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Truist Financial set a $406.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Visa from $420.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-four have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $426.12.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $402.73. The company had a trading volume of 1,797,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,519,519. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $404.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $718.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $372.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $346.62.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The company’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.34, for a total transaction of $687,690.78. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,778,929.36. The trade was a 9.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.81, for a total value of $2,108,008.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,444,582.94. This represents a 27.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 78,792 shares of company stock valued at $28,863,319 in the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Visa

Visa Inc (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic payments between consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments. Through its VisaNet network, the company authorizes, clears and settles transactions made with Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, while generally not issuing cards, extending credit or setting cardholder account terms.

Visa provides payment products and services for consumer, commercial and government payments, as well as digital commerce and money movement.