Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 1,601 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Hartford Investment Management Co. reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 1.5%, now owning 105,152 shares valued at $36.85 million, making Visa its 13th biggest holding.
• Visa recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.98, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.85, with revenues up 14.3% year-over-year at $10.17 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, payable on September 2nd, reflecting a 0.7% dividend yield.

Hartford Investment Management Co. reduced its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,152 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,601 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.3% of Hartford Investment Management Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Hartford Investment Management Co.'s holdings in Visa were worth $36,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 167 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday. Macquarie upped their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.84.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock traded down $6.66 during trading on Friday, reaching $338.81. 8,655,366 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,746,410. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $254.51 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $355.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $346.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $625.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued 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 is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

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.