Appleton Partners Inc. MA Cuts Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,371 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,786 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 2.1% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Visa were worth $28,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $348.26 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $351.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $647.00 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $321.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $295.90.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Mizuho raised their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $383.00 price objective (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.