Avalon Trust Co Trims Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Avalon Trust Co reduced its position in Visa Inc. by 2.2% during the first quarter, now holding approximately 171,451 shares valued at $60 million, making it Visa's 7th largest holding.
• Visa reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.13, and saw a 14.3% year-over-year revenue growth, totaling $10.17 billion.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59, with an annualized yield of 0.7%, showcasing a payout ratio of 23.05%.

Avalon Trust Co lowered its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 171,451 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 3,874 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 4.8% of Avalon Trust Co's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Avalon Trust Co's holdings in Visa were worth $60,087,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.7% in the first quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $306,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Visa by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $57,727,000 after acquiring an additional 30,185 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC increased its stake in Visa by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 610,517 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $192,948,000 after acquiring an additional 43,546 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Visa Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of Visa stock traded down $6.66 on Friday, hitting $338.81. 8,655,366 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,179,344. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $355.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $346.75. 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 12-month low of $254.51 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company has a market cap of $625.16 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid 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 yield of 0.7%. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 89,913 shares of company stock worth $32,902,432. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Visa

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.