Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by WASHINGTON TRUST Co

WASHINGTON TRUST Co lessened its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 250,686 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,914 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 2.6% of WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Visa were worth $65,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 126,912,205 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $30,139,110,000 after buying an additional 3,070,682 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Visa by 1.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 74,133,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $17,605,106,000 after buying an additional 1,235,891 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Visa by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 51,122,866 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,621,287,000 after purchasing an additional 5,864,340 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 116,608.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,504,130 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,090,978,000 after purchasing an additional 24,483,134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on V. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on Visa from $296.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt started coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.82.

Visa Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $3.44 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $277.16. The stock had a trading volume of 2,433,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,598,061. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.14 and a 12 month high of $290.96. The company has a market capitalization of $509.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.94, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $278.54 and its 200 day moving average is $258.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.55 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.18 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.94%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total value of $2,228,128.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,311 shares of company stock worth $12,832,129 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Company 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.