Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Raises Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,116 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.2% of Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $4,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $306,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $57,727,000 after purchasing an additional 30,185 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 610,517 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $192,948,000 after purchasing an additional 43,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was 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 directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.84.

Visa Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE V traded down $3.42 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $347.09. The stock had a trading volume of 4,887,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,809,956. The firm has a market cap of $640.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company's 50 day moving average price is $356.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $343.09.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.51 EPS. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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.