Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Sells 5,763 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,033 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,763 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $12,932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Visa by 970.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 211.9% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on V. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.74.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $309.92 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $251.61 and a 52 week high of $312.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $577.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.85, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $289.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $277.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.25%.

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.