Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Ballast Advisors LLC

Ballast Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,708 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 154 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 0.7% of Ballast Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Visa by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,943,773 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,973,432,000 after purchasing an additional 596,950 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Visa by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,895,788 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,659,169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,238 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,895,015,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Visa by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,824,113 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,078,408,000 after purchasing an additional 85,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,524,329 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,725,079,000 after purchasing an additional 141,566 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Mizuho increased their target price on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wedbush increased their target price on Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.56.

Visa Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of V traded up $1.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $270.36. The company had a trading volume of 7,986,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,135,279. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.68 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The stock has a market cap of $494.47 billion, a PE ratio of 30.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $273.70. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total transaction of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.