Argent Trust Co Has $32.07 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Argent Trust Co lessened its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 101,462 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,041 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.3% of Argent Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Visa were worth $32,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,242,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $69,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Visa by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 591,175 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $162,544,000 after acquiring an additional 31,245 shares during the period. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,156,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V traded down $4.91 on Thursday, reaching $327.52. 763,072 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,249,071. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $343.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $317.96. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $366.54. The stock has a market cap of $608.47 billion, a PE ratio of 33.00, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total value of $3,020,792.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,186.28. The trade was 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 39,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.