Appleton Partners Inc. MA Has $27.38 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 98,104 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 7,290 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 2.1% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Visa were worth $27,379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Visa by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,943,773 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,973,432,000 after buying an additional 596,950 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,895,788 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,659,169,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323,238 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings 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 worth $3,927,122,000 after acquiring an additional 763,505 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $3,895,015,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.7% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,272,846,000 after acquiring an additional 374,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $273.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $273.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $500.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $224.98 and a 52 week high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.24%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,402 shares of company stock worth $9,559,382 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised their target price on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler started coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, May 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $322.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.76.

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.