Visteon (NASDAQ:VC) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Visteon (NASDAQ:VC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

VC has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Visteon from $140.00 to $127.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wolfe Research cut Visteon from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Visteon from $118.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $120.00 target price on Visteon in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Visteon from $125.00 to $124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visteon has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.25.

Visteon Stock Performance

Shares of Visteon stock opened at $90.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The firm has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.33. Visteon has a fifty-two week low of $65.10 and a fifty-two week high of $129.10.

Visteon (NASDAQ:VC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.88. The business had revenue of $948.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $920.25 million. Visteon had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 17.94%. Visteon’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Visteon will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visteon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a $0.375 dividend. This is a positive change from Visteon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Visteon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.91%.

Insider Activity at Visteon

In related news, CEO Sachin Lawande sold 49,453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.44, for a total transaction of $4,620,888.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 175,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,401,242.88. This trade represents a 21.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Boston Partners bought a new stake in Visteon in the 4th quarter valued at $25,342,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Visteon in the 4th quarter valued at $22,361,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Visteon by 483.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 231,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,033,000 after acquiring an additional 191,943 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Visteon by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,334,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,902,000 after acquiring an additional 187,347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Visteon by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 422,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,628,000 after acquiring an additional 165,729 shares in the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visteon Company Profile

Visteon Corporation is a global automotive electronics supplier that specializes in designing, engineering and manufacturing cockpit electronics and connected vehicle solutions. The company’s product portfolio spans digital instrument clusters, infotainment systems, domain controllers and advanced driver interaction technologies. By integrating hardware, software and services, Visteon aims to deliver complete cockpit electronics platforms that enhance driver experience, safety and connectivity.

Founded in 2000 as a spin-off from Ford Motor Company, Visteon has evolved its focus toward next-generation electronics and software-driven vehicle architectures.