American Trust Sells 2,847 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

American Trust cut its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,174 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,847 shares during the period. American Trust’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Ransom Advisory Ltd grew its stake in shares of Visa by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd now owns 9,447 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,313,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Bank OZK raised its position in Visa by 3.7% during the third quarter. Bank OZK now owns 858 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,710 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,704,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frederick Financial Consultants LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 target price on Visa and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 target price on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.91.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock traded up $0.85 on Friday, hitting $349.05. The stock had a trading volume of 4,701,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,985,494. The business’s 50 day moving average is $330.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $325.05. The stock has a market cap of $626.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $365.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Visa declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.