ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 187,599 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 3,005 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 2.7% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $65,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE:V opened at $358.70 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $355.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $661.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.51 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on V shares. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Macquarie reduced their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.84.

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.

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