Argent Trust Co Raises Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Argent Trust Co raised its holdings in Visa Inc. by 2.2% during the first quarter, bringing their total ownership to 103,735 shares valued at approximately $36.36 million.
• Insider trading activity included CEO Ryan Mcinerney selling a significant portion of shares, with other insiders also reducing their holdings, totaling nearly 90,000 shares sold over the last 90 days.
• Analysts remain optimistic, with multiple firms raising their price targets for Visa, resulting in a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

Argent Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,735 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 2,273 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.5% of Argent Trust Co's portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Argent Trust Co's holdings in Visa were worth $36,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 5.7% during the first quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $57,727,000 after buying an additional 30,185 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 610,517 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $192,948,000 after buying an additional 43,546 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,913 shares of company stock worth $32,902,432 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Macquarie raised their price target on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

Visa Trading Down 1.9%

V opened at $338.81 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $355.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $346.55. The company has a market capitalization of $625.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $254.51 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.05%.

Visa Company 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.

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