Wright Investors Service Inc. Has $7.28 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wright Investors Service Inc. raised its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 6.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 20,763 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 2.4% of Wright Investors Service Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $7,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 377.3% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 105 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total value of $13,395,133.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,991,249.33. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total transaction of $3,020,792.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $188,186.28. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,328 shares of company stock worth $38,419,222 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $367.48.

Visa Stock Up 0.2%

V stock traded up $0.80 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $366.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,221,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,005,162. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $369.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $675.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.91, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $343.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $334.27.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.