Howard Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Howard Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 10.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,750 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,468 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the first quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.52.

Visa Trading Down 1.0%

V opened at $351.92 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $355.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $345.83. The company has a market capitalization of $649.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $254.51 and a 52 week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The business’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

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.