Payden & Rygel Sells 11,600 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Payden & Rygel decreased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 17.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,100 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 11,600 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.6% of Payden & Rygel’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Visa were worth $18,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in V. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in Visa by 287.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 202.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 114 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Winnow Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the second quarter worth $41,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on V shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Evercore set a $380.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $391.43.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $320.90 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $582.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $336.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $338.95. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $299.00 and a one year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. Visa’s revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.75 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 25.14%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at $3,282,641.18. This trade represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.