Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Cypress Capital Group

Cypress Capital Group cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,609 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,898 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 2.8% of Cypress Capital Group’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Visa were worth $22,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverstone Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $616,000. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,443 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $24,475,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Ridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 75,456 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $23,847,000 after buying an additional 4,198 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Visa from $395.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 target price (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.96.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $352.18 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $335.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.55. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $366.54. The company has a market capitalization of $654.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Activity 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 value of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 64,505 shares of company stock valued at $22,290,507. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.