Sovran Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Sovran Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 16.1% in the second quarter, acquiring a total of 5,654 shares worth approximately $2,005,000.
• Visa's stock is currently rated as a "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $385.96, following positive analyst reviews that include UBS Group’s upgraded price target to $415.00.
• Visa announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $2.36 and a yield of 0.7%.

Sovran Advisors LLC grew its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 16.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,654 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $2,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $54,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Macquarie lifted their price target on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.96.

Visa Trading Up 1.2%

V traded up $3.89 on Friday, reaching $342.07. 13,657,860 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,986,314. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $268.23 and a one year high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $626.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $345.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $346.41.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is 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.