Cullen Investment Group LTD. Cuts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. trimmed its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,043 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,421 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 1.6% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Cullen Investment Group LTD.'s holdings in Visa were worth $10,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Up 0.8%

V stock traded up $3.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $365.43. The company had a trading volume of 8,725,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,023,748. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $369.15. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $343.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $333.54. The stock has a market cap of $674.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.84, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

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 company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $366.13.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.