Bard Financial Services Inc. Sells 3,005 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Bard Financial Services Inc. sold 3,005 shares of Visa Inc., reducing its stake by 30.3%, now holding 6,915 shares valued at approximately $2.45 million.
• Visa reported $2.98 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates and reflecting a 14.3% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share paid on September 2 represents a 0.7% yield and a payout ratio of 23.05%.

Bard Financial Services Inc. cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 30.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,915 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 3,005 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $2,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in shares of Visa by 14.5% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $159,523,000 after acquiring an additional 57,800 shares in the last quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.9% in the first quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC now owns 62,890 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $22,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,484 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Visa by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,003,569,000 after acquiring an additional 955,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $339.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $621.92 billion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.92. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $347.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $346.86. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $268.23 and a one year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The firm's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho raised shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.

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