Sowell Financial Services LLC Sells 2,439 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sowell Financial Services LLC trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 5.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 39,284 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,439 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 0.6% of Sowell Financial Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Sowell Financial Services LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $13,767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 4.4% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 1,689,926 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Visa by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $7,526,660,000 after acquiring an additional 866,596 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Visa by 1.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Visa by 18.0% in the fourth 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho raised shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.80.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $355.23 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $655.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $350.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $338.05.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.51 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Visa's payout ratio is 23.72%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $2,978,899.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,576.46. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 140,448 shares of company stock worth $50,133,659. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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