Verity & Verity LLC Sells 541 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Verity & Verity LLC decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 541 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arjuna Capital lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the second quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 11,851 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $731,000. Mechanics Bank Trust Department lifted its holdings in Visa by 8.0% in the second quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 32,460 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $8,520,000 after buying an additional 2,410 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $111,331,000 after acquiring an additional 20,023 shares during the period. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its stake in shares of Visa by 9.3% during the second quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 58,655 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,299,000 after purchasing an additional 4,988 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity 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. This represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $312.16 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $287.57 and a 200 day moving average of $276.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $568.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.08, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $245.60 and a twelve month high of $312.44.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $321.00 price objective (up previously from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, William Blair upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.74.

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.