342,680 Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Provident Trust Co.

Provident Trust Co. lowered its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 840,466 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 342,680 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 9.4% of Provident Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $302,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. increased its position in Visa by 58.1% during the first quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the third quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 606,500 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $217,934,000 after acquiring an additional 5,568 shares during the period. CFC Planning Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. CFC Planning Co LLC now owns 13,305 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,781,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607 shares during the last quarter. Vega Investment Solutions bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $829,000. Finally, Beacon Financial Group lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 83.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 22,501 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,801,000 after acquiring an additional 10,267 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho set a $440.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $420.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Evercore set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Susquehanna set a $480.00 target price on Visa and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $438.41.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total value of $2,161,236.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,582,059.38. This trade represents a 27.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total transaction of $773,377.80. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,018,365.40. This represents a 9.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 21,520 shares of company stock worth $7,960,757 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of V opened at $413.69 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $417.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $381.31 and a 200 day moving average of $342.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $738.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.55, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $12.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.09 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.20% and a return on equity of 70.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 15.03 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be given a dividend of $0.78 per share. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.30%.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic payments between consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments. Through its VisaNet network, the company authorizes, clears and settles transactions made with Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, while generally not issuing cards, extending credit or setting cardholder account terms.

Visa provides payment products and services for consumer, commercial and government payments, as well as digital commerce and money movement.