Columbia Asset Management Sells 1,868 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Columbia Asset Management lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 54,423 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,868 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 3.7% of Columbia Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Columbia Asset Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,073,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Visa by 38,416.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,173,271,000 after buying an additional 14,723,050 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,955,403,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,248,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926,049 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Macquarie cut 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. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.48.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $3,127,077.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,807.49. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,546,299 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of V stock opened at $368.04 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $371.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $344.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $334.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $679.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.51 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

Visa Profile

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.