LM Advisors LLC Has $2.34 Million Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

LM Advisors LLC cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 20.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,399 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,862 shares during the period. LM Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $2,339,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Visa by 17,018.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after buying an additional 3,926,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total transaction of $13,395,133.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,991,249.33. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,931. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.8%

Visa stock traded up $3.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $365.43. The stock had a trading volume of 8,725,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,023,748. The firm 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. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $343.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $333.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $369.15.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.51 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $366.13.

Visa Company 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.