Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. Sells 1,697 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,019 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,697 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 2.3% of Valicenti Advisory Services Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $8,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $2,978,899.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $185,576.46. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 101,098 shares of company stock valued at $36,738,526 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Macquarie lowered 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. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. Five investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.80.

Visa Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $345.87 on Thursday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $352.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $375.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $638.19 billion, a PE ratio of 34.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.51 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

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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