Amalgamated Bank Sells 23,720 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 399,320 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 23,720 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 0.8% of Amalgamated Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $103,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,073,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,927,122,000 after buying an additional 763,505 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,272,846,000 after buying an additional 374,489 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,824,113 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,078,408,000 after buying an additional 85,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 8,923,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,323,149,000 after acquiring an additional 189,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on V. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Macquarie boosted their price target on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $303.00.

Visa Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:V traded up $0.22 during trading on Thursday, hitting $267.54. 2,916,672 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,899,863. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $491.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $278.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $265.21. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.14 and a 52 week high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,724 shares of company stock worth $3,278,698. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa 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.