Trust Co. of Vermont Acquires Shares of 75,217 Visa Inc. $V

Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 75,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $25,806,000. Visa makes up 1.0% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Visa in the second quarter valued at $15,465,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $150,179,000. Titiun Yejiel purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,475,000. S&CO Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth about $14,372,000. Finally, Ballast Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 35.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 6,234 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $432.00 target price (up from $412.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $416.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. This represents a 40.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 49,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,125,140.14. This trade represents a 53.56% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 90,759 shares of company stock valued at $32,375,779. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Down 1.4%

Visa stock opened at $358.94 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $373.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $640.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $350.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $328.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.98 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.79%.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.