Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Bought by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 13.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 59,030 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 6,909 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $20,688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital & Planning LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 949 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $424,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $202,074,000. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,733,000 after acquiring an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $194,807.49. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total transaction of $5,259,207.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 worth $41,546,299 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Macquarie dropped their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.80.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock traded down $1.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $366.67. The stock had a trading volume of 6,873,856 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,004,686. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $372.43. The firm has a market cap of $676.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.96, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business's fifty day moving average is $344.66 and its 200-day moving average is $334.72.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.51 EPS. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 23.72%.

Visa 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.