FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Lowers Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,115 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 377 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.7% of FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Visa were worth $6,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Visa by 101.4% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of V opened at $319.97 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $313.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $288.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $321.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $596.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Macquarie lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.