Canton Hathaway LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Canton Hathaway LLC lessened its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,891 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 625 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 0.9% of Canton Hathaway LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Canton Hathaway LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Visa by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 72,897,112 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $16,435,339,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572,159 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Visa by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 51,122,866 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,621,287,000 after buying an additional 5,864,340 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after buying an additional 2,257,605 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Visa by 116,608.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,504,130 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,090,978,000 after acquiring an additional 24,483,134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,073,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,927,122,000 after acquiring an additional 763,505 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 55,511 shares of company stock valued at $15,131,081. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on V shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Redburn Atlantic reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $307.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $296.87.

Visa Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $271.34 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business’s 50 day moving average is $279.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $262.49. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.14 and a 52-week high of $290.96. The firm has a market cap of $498.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.22, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.77%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.94%.

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.