Community Trust & Investment Co. Buys 1,201 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Community Trust & Investment Co. lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 124,910 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 2.4% of Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $39,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Visa by 101.4% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 79.0% during the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 179 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE V opened at $316.45 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $321.61. The company has a market cap of $589.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $312.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.65.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.92.

Visa Company 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.