Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,001 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 195 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $521,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. Carmignac Gestion increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 4,681 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 17,719 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,613,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 565,001 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $147,098,000 after acquiring an additional 25,848 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,155,000. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 276,875 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $72,100,000 after purchasing an additional 8,845 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE V traded down $2.71 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $271.81. 4,191,968 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,930,494. The company has a market cap of $499.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.37, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $279.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $264.97. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $216.14 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The firm 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on V shares. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $302.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were 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 directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,874 shares of company stock worth $5,506,827. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.