Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc Sells 1,610 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 18,687 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,610 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 3.0% of Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Visa were worth $6,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $57,711,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461,575 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,253,245,000 after buying an additional 1,067,631 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,769,936,000 after buying an additional 2,429,996 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,820,885 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,552,057,000 after acquiring an additional 145,665 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

Visa stock opened at $329.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $599.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.87, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $338.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $299.00 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI set a $380.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Truist Financial set a $374.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $392.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This represents a 52.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa 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.