Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. trimmed its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 501,341 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 32,688 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.0% of Candriam S.C.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Visa were worth $178,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the first quarter worth $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $339.00 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $342.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $348.78. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $299.00 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $621.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.11%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 23,897 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,561 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on V. Citigroup upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $408.00 target price (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank lowered Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.00.

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.