CENTRAL TRUST Co Decreases Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,651 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 228 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Visa were worth $25,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Visa by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,983 shares of company stock worth $7,213,146. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $345.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $643.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.81, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $351.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $318.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.81.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

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.