Auxier Asset Management Trims Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Auxier Asset Management cut its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,193 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,489 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 2.0% of Auxier Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Auxier Asset Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $12,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its position in Visa by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 949 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 119,538 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $37,779,000 after buying an additional 1,736 shares during the period. Transform Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 95.0% during the 4th quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 14,795 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,676,000 after acquiring an additional 7,206 shares during the last quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 4,938 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,980 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,050,000 after acquiring an additional 2,630 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on V. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $362.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total transaction of $5,259,207.52. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,377,671.52. This trade represents a 35.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $354.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $653.27 billion, a PE ratio of 35.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $369.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $341.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $331.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side 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 will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

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.