Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Sells 6,522 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Washington Trust Advisors reduced its Visa stake by 4.8%, selling 6,522 shares and retaining 129,395 shares valued at approximately $44.4 million.
• Institutional investors own 82.15% of Visa, while analysts maintain a bullish outlook with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $416.62.
• Visa reported quarterly earnings of $3.32 per share and $11.63 billion in revenue, exceeding estimates, with revenue up 14.4% year over year; the company also maintains a $0.67 quarterly dividend.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,395 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 6,522 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 3.3% of Washington Trust Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $44,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. XXEC Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 153,118.8% during the 2nd quarter. XXEC Inc. now owns 186,260,448 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $63,904,097,000 after acquiring an additional 186,138,883 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $29,038,140,000 after purchasing an additional 626,821 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $15,411,395,000 after purchasing an additional 388,996 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Visa by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $14,411,480,000 after purchasing an additional 716,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Visa by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,835,336 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $8,359,291,000 after purchasing an additional 398,459 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial set a $406.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $406.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $420.00 price objective on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $416.62.

Visa Stock Down 0.2%

Visa stock opened at $374.46 on Monday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $363.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $333.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $668.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.76. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $385.57.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The company had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 11th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 22.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total transaction of $7,135,042.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,162,953.50. This represents a 58.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total transaction of $773,377.80. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,018,365.40. This represents a 9.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 104,537 shares of company stock worth $37,540,837 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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