Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Bought by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 164,116 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 3,617 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.5% of Bailard Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Bailard Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $57,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Visa by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 9,537 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,342,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC raised its position in Visa by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 18,666 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,542,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 27,380 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $9,596,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Visa by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,098 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,240,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Napatree Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 3,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,282,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Citigroup started coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Mizuho raised Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $375.52.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V stock traded down $0.91 on Friday, hitting $348.90. 4,916,998 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,795,706. The firm has a market cap of $643.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.07, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $356.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $343.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200 in the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.