Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stake Lessened by Chesley Taft & Associates LLC

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,704 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 4,898 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.9% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $37,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 11.6% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 816 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $5,185,000. Private Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 7.9% during the third quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.4% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 163,795 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $37,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,797 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Visa by 82.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 91,270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $20,993,000 after buying an additional 41,204 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $268.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $490.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.79, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $227.68 and a twelve month high of $290.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $273.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during 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%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 quarter, insiders sold 34,402 shares of company stock valued at $9,559,382. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.