Lountzis Asset Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Lountzis Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 970 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $12,729,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,926 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,526,660,000 after purchasing an additional 866,596 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,356,614,000 after purchasing an additional 241,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 18.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of Visa 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $8.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $347.71. The company had a trading volume of 7,577,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,821,741. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $356.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.56. The company has a market capitalization of $641.58 billion, a PE ratio of 34.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on V. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.84.

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.