8,294 Shares in Visa Inc. $V Purchased by Littlejohn Financial Services Inc.

Key Points

• Littlejohn Financial Services opened a new position in Visa during the first quarter, buying 8,294 shares worth about $2.5 million. Visa now represents about 1.9% of the fund’s portfolio.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including CEO Ryan McInerney and CFO Chris Suh, with total insider sales of 63,064 shares valued at about $21.3 million over the last 90 days. The CEO’s sale was made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan.
• Despite the insider selling, analysts remain broadly optimistic: Visa has a Buy consensus rating and a consensus price target of $397.96. The company also beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates and authorized a new $20 billion share repurchase program.

Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,294 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $2,507,000. Visa accounts for about 1.9% of Littlejohn Financial Services Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Next Level Private LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 3.5% during the first quarter. Next Level Private LLC now owns 3,502 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,058,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Tred Avon Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 3.0% during the first quarter. Tred Avon Family Wealth LLC now owns 8,946 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,704,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the first quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 3,769 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,139,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.5% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 12,799 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,868,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total value of $7,135,042.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,162,953.50. This trade represents a 58.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 63,064 shares of company stock valued at $21,289,800 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $397.96.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa is participating in the launch of the Open USD stablecoin initiative alongside major players like Stripe, Google, and BlackRock, a sign that the company is staying central to the next wave of digital payments and money movement. Visa and Google Sign on to Use Money Movement Stablecoin OpenUSD
• Positive Sentiment: Visa’s new travel platform expansion and cross-border partnership push could support transaction growth, especially as travel and experience spending remain strong. Visa redefines its role in travel with the global expansion of Visa Destinations
• Positive Sentiment: Visa said online deal hunting is helping consumers keep spending on discretionary purchases, which is encouraging for payment volume trends. Visa Says Online Deal Hunting Sustains Consumers' Discretionary Spending
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa also unveiled smartphone-based tools for small businesses to accept payments through Visa Pay, Visa Accept and Visa Direct, which supports its long-term growth story but is more incremental near term. Visa Brings Card Acceptance to SMB Smartphones
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Ryan McInerney sold 20,970 shares in a pre-arranged transaction, which can create a small amount of investor caution even though it was conducted under a 10b5-1 plan. SEC filing for CEO stock sale

Visa Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE V opened at $342.63 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $324.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $324.52. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $359.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $614.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business's revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding V? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.