Advisors Preferred LLC Buys Shares of 7,801 Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,801 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $2,702,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Forbes J M & Co. LLP lifted its position in Visa by 1.0% during the first quarter. Forbes J M & Co. LLP now owns 65,835 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $23,073,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the period. Vestor Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 39,793 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $13,946,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its stake in Visa by 15.2% in the first quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,528 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Teramo Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 4.5% during the first quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,654 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $354.30. The stock had a trading volume of 5,882,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,597,131. The stock has a market capitalization of $653.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $356.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $344.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's payout ratio is 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on V. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Finally, Macquarie cut their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $375.52.

Visa 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.