Impax Asset Management Group plc Decreases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Impax Asset Management Group plc trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 12.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 981,548 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 141,880 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 1.4% of Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned approximately 0.05% of Visa worth $309,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Edge Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 10,864 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the period. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 1,384 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 343,615 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $108,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. Wharton Business Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $229,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Visa by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 39,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % 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 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price objective (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $350.61 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $357.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $651.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.34, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $331.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $304.27.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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.