Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Sells 6,438 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,927 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 6,438 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Visa were worth $34,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Midwest Trust Co lifted its position in Visa by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 256,177 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $77,427,000 after buying an additional 18,554 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 125.0% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 937,519 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $283,356,000 after acquiring an additional 520,786 shares in the last quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the first quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 10,919 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,300,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 19.9% in the first quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 7,702 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 0.5% during the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 1,004,331 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $303,549,000 after acquiring an additional 5,046 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% 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, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V traded up $0.85 during trading on Friday, reaching $349.05. 4,701,656 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,985,494. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $330.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $325.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $626.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $365.02.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on V shares. Evercore set a $350.00 price target on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays began coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.91.

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.