Optas LLC Sells 46 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Optas LLC cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,026 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 46 shares during the quarter. Optas LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 3.8% during the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 7,458 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,051,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 1.5% during the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 26,699 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,341,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.0% during the third quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 10,605 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,916,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Invesco LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.4% during the third quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 15,225 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,186,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fullcircle Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.6% during the third quarter. Fullcircle Wealth LLC now owns 4,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $290.74 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $239.20 and a twelve month high of $296.34. The company’s 50 day moving average is $281.00 and its 200 day moving average is $273.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $529.82 billion, a PE ratio of 29.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.17 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 21.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $321.00 price objective (up from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $320.70.

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.