Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Buys 3,372 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 104,948 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,372 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Visa were worth $37,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Semus Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Visa by 0.9% during the second quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,185,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC increased its position in Visa by 2.9% during the second quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Valued Retirements Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 4.3% in the first quarter. Valued Retirements Inc. now owns 728 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Interchange Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Visa by 0.5% in the second quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,413 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 23,897 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,561 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $329.89 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $342.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $348.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $604.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.31, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.87. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Macquarie cut their target price on shares of Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.00.

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.