Park National Corp OH Cuts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Park National Corp OH lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 116,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 4,577 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 1.4% of Park National Corp OH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Visa were worth $36,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the second quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Visa by 101.4% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Macquarie upped their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $317.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $329.70.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $311.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $310.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $286.27. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $321.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $580.92 billion, a PE ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.33 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s payout ratio is 24.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.