Franklin Resources Inc. Has $2.96 Billion Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,353,179 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 185,621 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 0.8% of Franklin Resources Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.50% of Visa worth $2,955,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. lifted its stake in Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 7,283 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,302,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $383.00 target price (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Visa Stock Up 0.0 %

V stock traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $346.49. The company had a trading volume of 5,660,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,155,309. The company has a market capitalization of $643.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $366.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $344.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $316.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa's payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. This trade represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total value of $13,395,133.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,991,249.33. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. Company 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.