Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 86,969 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,402 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 2.4% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA's holdings in Visa were worth $30,479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 377.3% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Mizuho raised shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Five investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.80.

Visa Stock Down 0.7%

Visa stock opened at $338.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $623.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $351.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $338.74.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The business's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is 23.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,098 shares of company stock valued at $36,738,526 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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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