Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Mount Lucas Management LP

Mount Lucas Management LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,705 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 84 shares during the quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth about $1,212,000. Absolute Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter valued at about $404,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 40.4% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 25,137 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,967,000 after acquiring an additional 7,236 shares during the period. Davidson Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Davidson Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,275 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,588,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 45,724 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,914 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V traded up $0.75 on Friday, reaching $279.37. The stock had a trading volume of 7,187,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,125,969. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $227.78 and a 12-month high of $290.96. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $266.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.13. The stock has a market cap of $510.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $322.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $297.00 price objective (down from $305.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $309.54.

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.