Balentine LLC Lowers Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Balentine LLC lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 40.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,074 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 719 shares during the period. Balentine LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC raised its stake in Visa by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. FWL Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,005,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 2.9% during the first quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 872 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Headinvest LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,265,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI started coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $375.52.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel directly 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. Insiders sold a total of 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $348.90 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $356.82 and a 200-day moving average of $343.63. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $643.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.92. 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 (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The firm's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's payout ratio is 23.72%.

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.

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