Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Lowers Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 154,156 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,955 shares during the period. Visa comprises 3.8% of Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $40,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV increased its holdings in Visa by 2.0% during the third quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,930 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $904,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Camarda Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 3.0% during the second quarter. Camarda Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,249 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 10.1% during the third quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Richelieu Gestion SA purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 5,907.4% during the second quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 221,012 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $52,486,000 after buying an additional 217,333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $278.89. 2,405,410 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,592,589. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.14 and a 52 week high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $278.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $258.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $512.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The business had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.18 earnings per share. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on V. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $280.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.82.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 47,311 shares of company stock worth $12,832,129. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa 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.