Berkshire Bank Cuts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Berkshire Bank reduced its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,863 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 530 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.8% of Berkshire Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 101.4% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $336.45 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $315.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $626.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $337.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Visa from $325.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $335.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.