Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 23.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,451 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,927 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.4% of Sentry Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Sentry Investment Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $2,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kwmg LLC lifted its position in Visa by 5.1% in the first quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 764 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 7.7% in the first quarter. Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 1,334 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $467,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Visa by 3.1% in the first quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,709 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,300,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Visa by 13.3% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 59,030 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $20,688,000 after buying an additional 6,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC lifted its position in Visa by 1.4% in the first quarter. Paladin Wealth LLC now owns 3,906 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,369,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total value of $13,395,133.50. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,546,299. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Up 0.6%

Visa stock traded up $2.18 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $368.04. The company had a trading volume of 4,199,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,994,002. The stock has a market cap of $679.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $369.57. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $344.15 and a 200 day moving average of $334.49.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The company's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on V. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $367.48.

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.