Visa Inc. $V Stock Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 698,473 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 6,633 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 2.9% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $250,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.3% in the third quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,991,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lifted its position in shares of Visa by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 399,895 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $143,694,000 after buying an additional 52,593 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,708 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,926,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 10,173 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,656,000 after buying an additional 2,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 38,608 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $13,873,000 after buying an additional 3,372 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price target (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Evercore set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $420.00 to $438.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Visa from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, President Capital boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $411.00 to $474.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $440.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total value of $773,377.80. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,018,365.40. This trade represents a 9.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total transaction of $2,161,236.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,582,059.38. The trade was a 27.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 27,395 shares of company stock worth $10,406,050. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of V opened at $422.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $386.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $345.18. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $442.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $753.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.80.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.04. Visa had a return on equity of 70.50% and a net margin of 51.20%. The company had revenue of $12.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 15.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be given a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.74%.

About Visa

Visa Inc operates a global payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. Its network supports the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payments, including transactions made in person and online.

The company’s services include payment processing, fraud prevention, identity and risk management, and money-transfer solutions such as Visa Direct. Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards are issued by participating financial institutions; Visa generally provides the network and related services rather than issuing cards or extending credit directly to consumers.

Visa traces its roots to BankAmericard, a bank card program launched in California in 1958.