M. Kraus & Co Trims Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

M. Kraus & Co cut its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,683 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. M. Kraus & Co’s holdings in Visa were worth $532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Unionview LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC increased its position in Visa by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. St. Louis Trust Co raised its stake in Visa by 0.9% in the third quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 3,885 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 6,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,709,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $316.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $312.76 and a 200 day moving average of $287.65. The firm has a market cap of $589.51 billion, a PE ratio of 32.52, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $321.61.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.92.

About Visa

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.