Brown Advisory Inc. Has $2.39 Billion Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Brown Advisory Inc. decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,817,872 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 529,544 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 3.4% of Brown Advisory Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 0.37% of Visa worth $2,389,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE V traded down $8.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $347.71. 7,576,795 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,829,633. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $641.58 billion, a PE ratio of 34.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The business's fifty day moving average price is $356.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $342.37.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Mizuho raised Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. Five investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $372.84.

Visa Company 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.