Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is Country Trust Bank’s 10th Largest Position

Country Trust Bank decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 264,650 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 6,256 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 2.1% of Country Trust Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $83,640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of Visa by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 964 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Unionview LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Forza Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Presilium Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Presilium Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,503 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:V opened at $342.05 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $637.19 billion, a PE ratio of 35.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $317.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $293.12. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $351.25.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on V shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $352.27.

About Visa

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.