Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Decreases Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,190 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,334 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 2.1% of Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $22,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised their price target on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $353.96.

Visa Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Visa stock opened at $344.95 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $341.94 and its 200-day moving average is $314.21. The stock has a market cap of $640.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 over the last three months. 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.