Hancock Whitney Corp Grows Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Hancock Whitney Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,394 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 824 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.9% of Hancock Whitney Corp's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Hancock Whitney Corp's holdings in Visa were worth $29,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in V. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of several recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $355.84.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total transaction of $3,020,792.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,186.28. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Trading Up 0.9 %

V opened at $334.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $621.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.72, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $366.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $339.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.50. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

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.

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