Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Sells 691 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,317 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 691 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 2.0% of Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter worth about $54,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 28.5% in the first quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 167 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Macquarie lifted their price objective on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,772,810. This trade represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,913 shares of company stock worth $32,902,432 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $338.81 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $355.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $346.34. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $254.51 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $625.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, equities 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 Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

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.