The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 221,685 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,792,620 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 221,685 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Visa were worth $492,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arjuna Capital grew its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 11,851 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,111,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the third quarter worth about $731,000. Mechanics Bank Trust Department increased its stake in Visa by 8.0% during the second quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 32,460 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,520,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC raised its position in Visa by 5.2% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $111,331,000 after purchasing an additional 20,023 shares during the period. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 58,655 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,299,000 after purchasing an additional 4,988 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.74.

Visa Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:V opened at $312.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $289.96 and a 200 day moving average of $277.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $582.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $251.61 and a 52 week high of $313.66.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.