Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Sells 774 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 11.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,763 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 774 shares during the quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $2,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 377.3% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.80.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $370.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $683.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The business's 50 day moving average price is $345.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $335.50. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $371.00.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,772,810. This trade represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 168,162 shares of company stock valued at $58,645,479. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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