Wealthfront Advisers LLC Trims Position in Visa Inc. $V

Wealthfront Advisers LLC lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 191,969 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,853 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $65,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Sonoma Allocations LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $710,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,241,348 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $438,196,000 after buying an additional 21,401 shares in the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.9% during the second quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 95,150 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,783,000 after acquiring an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.6% in the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $198,596,000 after acquiring an additional 14,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 24.1% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $281,045,000 after acquiring an additional 159,906 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. The trade was a 7.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $325.48 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $299.00 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $590.80 billion, a PE ratio of 30.53, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $338.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $340.57.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued 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 return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The business had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.75 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on V. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $411.00 price target (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Evercore set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $392.29.

Visa Company 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.