HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 100,276 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors increased its Visa stake by 7.2% in the second quarter, buying 100,276 additional shares to hold 1.48 million shares valued at approximately $509.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 82.15% of Visa.
• Visa reported quarterly earnings of $3.32 per share, exceeding estimates of $3.23, while revenue rose 14.4% year over year to $11.63 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, implying a 0.7% yield.
• Wall Street remains bullish, with Visa carrying a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $416.62. Meanwhile, Visa insiders sold more than 104,000 shares worth about $37.5 million over the past 90 days under pre-arranged trading plans.

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,483,966 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 100,276 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Visa worth $509,134,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 200.0% in the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. RHL Group LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of V opened at $374.46 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $363.63 and a 200 day moving average of $333.40. The company has a market cap of $668.20 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.76. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $385.57.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The business had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.98 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 11th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total transaction of $773,377.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $7,018,365.40. The trade was a 9.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.65, for a total value of $2,230,443.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,760,809.10. This represents a 27.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 104,537 shares of company stock valued at $37,540,837 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Clear Str raised Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Visa from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $416.62.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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