Equitable Trust Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Equitable Trust Co. lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 66,799 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Visa makes up 1.2% of Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $21,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 45,189.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,758,505 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,683,101,000 after purchasing an additional 9,736,958 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,064,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,977 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 6.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,702,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,518 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 7.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after buying an additional 2,772,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $268,640,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price target (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $351.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $352.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $652.88 billion, a PE ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $322.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $297.52.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Visa Profile

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.