WASHINGTON TRUST Co Lowers Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co cut its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 231,652 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 6,326 shares during the period. Visa makes up 2.6% of WASHINGTON TRUST Co's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. WASHINGTON TRUST Co's holdings in Visa were worth $73,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Visa by 4.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $21,064,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after buying an additional 3,265,518 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $10,601,135,000 after buying an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Visa by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,597,969 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,188,862,000 after buying an additional 123,927 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,522,445 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,168,096,000 after acquiring an additional 670,590 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V traded down $5.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $350.20. The stock had a trading volume of 2,703,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,624,320. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $357.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $650.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $327.75 and a 200 day moving average of $301.05.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $354.73.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Company 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.