Visa Inc. $V Stock Position Reduced by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 870,050 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,522 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Visa were worth $312,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. John Boyer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Visa during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new position in Visa during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Robinswood Financial LLC bought a new position in Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Portfolio Resources Advisor Group Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.00, for a total transaction of $789,741.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $7,784,892. This represents a 9.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.22, for a total value of $2,445,292.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,315,722.28. The trade was a 27.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,262 shares of company stock worth $11,195,791. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on Visa from $443.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Visa from $475.00 to $486.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Visa from $403.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Bank of America increased their target price on Visa from $410.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $405.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $443.35.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $425.56 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $388.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $346.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $759.37 billion, a PE ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.80. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $442.23.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.04. Visa had a net margin of 51.20% and a return on equity of 70.50%. The firm had revenue of $12.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 15.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.30%.

About Visa

Visa Inc. operates a global payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. Its network supports the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payments, including transactions made in person and online. The company’s services include payment processing, fraud prevention, identity and risk management, and money-transfer solutions such as Visa Direct. Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards are issued by participating financial institutions; Visa generally provides the network and related services rather than issuing cards or extending credit directly to consumers.