Insider Selling: Visa (NYSE:V) General Counsel Sells $789,741.00 in Stock

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.00, for a total transaction of $789,741.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $7,784,892. This represents a 9.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Visa Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $420.26 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $442.23. The company has a market capitalization of $749.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $389.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $346.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $12.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.09 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 70.50% and a net margin of 51.20%. The business’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 15.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.30%.

Visa News Roundup

Investors following V have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa and Anchorage Digital are enabling eligible partners to settle VisaNet obligations using Western Union’s USDPT stablecoin. Visa also added the Monad blockchain to its stablecoin settlement program, expanding settlement options as it develops digital-asset services. Visa expands stablecoin services with Anchorage
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is extending everyday payment use cases: AviaGames players can receive eligible game payouts directly to Visa cards, while an Octopus partnership expands Visa QR-payment acceptance at merchants across Hong Kong. These integrations could support transaction activity and Visa’s reach. AviaGames payout collaboration Visa and Octopus expand QR payments
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains supportive: Bernstein maintained an Outperform rating and raised its price target to $486, while Citigroup reportedly raised its target to $490 and kept a Buy rating. Bernstein analyst recommendations

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on V. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Visa from $475.00 to $486.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. President Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $411.00 to $474.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. BMO Capital Markets set a $438.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $387.00 to $404.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Visa from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $443.35.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $810,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,682 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,323,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,569 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argyle Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 0.7% in the third quarter. Argyle Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,912 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

Visa Inc. operates a global payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. Its network supports the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payments, including transactions made in person and online. The company’s services include payment processing, fraud prevention, identity and risk management, and money-transfer solutions such as Visa Direct. Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards are issued by participating financial institutions; Visa generally provides the network and related services rather than issuing cards or extending credit directly to consumers.