Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Purchased by Country Trust Bank

Country Trust Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 270,906 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 941 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.8% of Country Trust Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $74,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,377 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,953,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 5.9% during the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,350 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,670,000 after buying an additional 747 shares in the last quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth about $1,646,000. Traveka Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 3.4% during the third quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 2,606 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $717,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Private Trust Co. raised its holdings in Visa by 5.1% in the third quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 9,178 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,523,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of V stock opened at $274.96 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $273.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $272.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $502.88 billion, a PE ratio of 30.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $228.03 and a 1-year high of $293.07.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. The business had revenue of $8.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.92 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on V shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer began coverage on Visa in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $318.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.04.

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.