Congress Asset Management Co. Reduces Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Congress Asset Management Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 587,453 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 4,125 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 1.5% of Congress Asset Management Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Congress Asset Management Co.'s holdings in Visa were worth $205,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after purchasing an additional 14,723,050 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,955,403,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926,049 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on V. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Macquarie reduced their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 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 168,162 shares of company stock worth $58,645,479 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE V opened at $370.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $683.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.34, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The firm's 50-day moving average is $345.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $335.50. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $371.00.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

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.

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