Simon Quick Advisors LLC Raises Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 25.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,338 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 2,868 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $5,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted 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 purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total value of $3,020,792.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,186.28. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 stock was 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 now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,448 shares of company stock worth $50,133,659 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Down 5.0%

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $18.65 during trading on Friday, reaching $352.75. 14,176,249 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,017,457. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $349.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $337.61. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $650.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.51 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's payout ratio is 23.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.80.

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.