Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Invests $1.32 Million in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,778 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $1,324,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in Visa by 377.3% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Down 0.4%

Visa stock traded down $1.33 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $366.67. 6,876,674 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,004,727. The company has a market cap of $676.56 billion, a PE ratio of 36.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $344.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $334.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $372.43.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Visa's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.51 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.80.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $3,127,077.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $194,807.49. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total value of $5,259,207.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,377,671.52. The trade was a 35.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,546,299 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.