Patten Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Patten Group Inc. reduced its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,495 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 542 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 2.9% of Patten Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $13,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 17,018.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after buying an additional 3,926,049 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Visa by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 6.1% in 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $268,640,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on V. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 price target (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

Visa Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $351.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $653.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $334.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $307.24.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given 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 dividend yield of 0.67%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,931. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 64,505 shares of company stock worth $22,290,507 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.