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

Merit Financial Group LLC trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 32.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,180 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 10,500 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 236 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 1,019.2% in the 3rd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on V shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $307.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.00.

Visa Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE V traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $268.49. 3,810,049 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,903,757. The company has a 50 day moving average of $278.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $265.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $493.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.00, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.14 and a 52-week high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,724 shares of company stock valued at $3,278,698. 0.19% of the stock is 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.