Merit Financial Group LLC Has $29.41 Million Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 40.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,839 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 23,809 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $29,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of V. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,733,000 after buying an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in Visa by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,562 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $898,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Visa by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 42,120 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $14,761,000 after buying an additional 3,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ibex Wealth Advisors raised its position in Visa by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 45,680 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $16,009,000 after buying an additional 3,307 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $351.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $643.88 billion, a PE ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $343.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $346.96. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $274.42 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on V shares. Robert W. Baird set a $410.00 price target on Visa and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Macquarie increased their price target on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $389.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total value of $3,589,015.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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