McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. Purchases 1,041 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. significantly increased its stake in Visa by 634.8% during the first quarter, now owning a total of 1,205 shares worth approximately $422,000.
• Visa reported a quarterly earnings per share of $2.98, surpassing analyst estimates, with a revenue of $10.17 billion, indicating a 14.3% year-over-year growth.
• Visa's average stock rating among analysts is a "Moderate Buy" with a consensus price target of $380.84, reflecting optimism about its future performance.

McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 634.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,205 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup started coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 target price (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business'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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock traded up $2.25 on Wednesday, hitting $339.68. 5,943,311 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,305,647. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $626.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $256.31 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $354.38 and a 200-day moving average of $346.84.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.