Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 54,317 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 691 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 2.0% of Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in V. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Visa by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,662 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,106,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Yoffe Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $1,086,000. Finally, Resolute Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $338.81 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $254.51 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $355.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $346.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $625.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $380.84.

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.