44 Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

44 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 14.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,879 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 739 shares during the period. 44 Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $2,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 9,576 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,356,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its stake in Visa by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 6,525 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,237,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Visa by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 85,335 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $29,907,000 after purchasing an additional 7,892 shares during the last quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Visa by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,346 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,677,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Visa by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,166 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,418,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $2.86 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $356.00. 1,189,447 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,828,609. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $355.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $341.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $656.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.51 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Macquarie reduced their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.84.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200. 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.