Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,347,416 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 511,352 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 2.9% of Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 0.40% of Visa worth $2,322,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its position in Visa by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 171,506 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $54,203,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 5,932 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,875,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $189,888,000. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,766,000. Finally, Beck Bode LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,502,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Visa stock traded up $1.07 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $348.67. The company had a trading volume of 3,864,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,225,088. The company's 50-day moving average is $337.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $325.48. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $647.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.51 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $362.38.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,208 shares of company stock valued at $48,905,978. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.