Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 12.3%, selling 7,804 shares during the first quarter and now owns 55,660 shares valued at approximately $19.5 million.
• Multiple analysts have issued positive ratings for Visa, with Deutsche Bank setting a buy rating and a price target of $410.00, while Barclays raised its target price to $408.00.
• Insider selling has occurred recently, including notable sales by General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg and Paul D. Fabara, with a total of 77,127 shares sold valued at over $28 million in the last 90 days.

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 55,660 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 7,804 shares during the quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $19,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FWL Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.9% during the first quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the first quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,209,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 872 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headinvest LLC raised its position in Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 77,127 shares of company stock valued at $28,340,553 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $348.89 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $347.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $347.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $639.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $267.67 and a 52 week high of $375.51.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

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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