Blue Trust Inc. Trims Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 50.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,995 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 11,069 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $353.73 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $325.14 and a 200-day moving average of $299.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $657.15 billion, a PE ratio of 35.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $356.08.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on V shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho increased their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 price target (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

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.