Essex Savings Bank Sells 568 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Essex Savings Bank reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,035 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 568 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 1.3% of Essex Savings Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in V. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the 4th 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. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $1,955,403,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after buying an additional 3,926,049 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $357.89 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The company has a market cap of $660.37 billion, a PE ratio of 35.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $351.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $338.19.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on V shares. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Citigroup began coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Macquarie reduced their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total value of $5,259,207.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,377,671.52. This trade represents a 35.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 101,098 shares of company stock valued at $36,738,526. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.