FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Reduces Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lessened its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,405 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 723 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.4% of FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Visa by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,943,773 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,973,432,000 after purchasing an additional 596,950 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,895,788 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,659,169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,238 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,895,015,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,272,846,000 after purchasing an additional 374,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,824,113 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,078,408,000 after purchasing an additional 85,123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total value of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $4,959,322.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.56.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $268.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $490.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.61. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.68 and a 1-year high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

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.