First Financial Corp IN Reduces Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

First Financial Corp IN lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 17.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,865 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,028 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 0.7% of First Financial Corp IN’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. First Financial Corp IN’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $3,895,015,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 17,418.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,737,229 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,233,338,000 after buying an additional 4,710,188 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in shares of Visa by 14,306.3% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,500,270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $390,595,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,856 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 8.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Visa by 139.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,185,077 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $568,885,000 after acquiring an additional 1,272,211 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $307.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Mizuho upped their price target on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Macquarie boosted their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $303.56.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $2.77 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $273.53. The stock had a trading volume of 18,358,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,662,618. The stock has a market capitalization of $500.27 billion, a PE ratio of 30.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $226.02 and a 52 week high of $290.96. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $274.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.29.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. Visa’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total value of $7,009,954.95. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,959,322.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,402 shares of company stock valued at $9,559,382. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa 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.