Wedmont Private Capital Acquires 741 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,544 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $3,895,015,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 17,418.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 14,306.3% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 1,489,856 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Visa by 8.0% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 139.4% in the 4th 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 institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $275.20 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $273.97 and a 200 day moving average of $272.88. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $225.50 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The company has a market capitalization of $503.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.75, a PEG ratio of 1.89 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 (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 34,402 shares of company stock valued at $9,559,382. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Macquarie lifted their price target on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. 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 note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $303.76.

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.