Costello Asset Management INC Buys 5,808 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Costello Asset Management INC increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 52.2% in the first quarter, owning 16,937 shares valued at nearly $5.94 million.
• Insider trading revealed that CEO Ryan Mcinerney and another insider sold significant portions of their stock, with Mcinerney reducing his holdings by 94.14%.
• Visa recently reported quarterly earnings of $2.98 per share, exceeding estimates, with a revenue increase of 14.3% year-over-year, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59.

Costello Asset Management INC grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 52.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,937 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 2.4% of Costello Asset Management INC's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Costello Asset Management INC's holdings in Visa were worth $5,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Visa by 38,416.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Visa by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $673,689,000. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $623,022,000. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 295.4% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,362,202 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $746,550,000 after purchasing an additional 1,764,781 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 target price (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Visa Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of V traded up $2.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $339.68. 5,943,311 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,305,647. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $354.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $346.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $626.76 billion, a PE ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $256.31 and a 52 week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

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.