Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,612 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 930 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.9% of Ascent Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $10,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 970.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 211.9% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Visa from $321.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $322.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Visa from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Compass Point started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price target on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.22.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $275.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $503.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.78 and a 52-week high of $293.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $271.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $273.27.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.42. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The business had revenue of $8.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.24%.

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.