Advantage Trust Co Purchases Shares of 200 Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Advantage Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 200 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in V. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,582,785,000 after buying an additional 2,257,605 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Visa by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,073,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,927,122,000 after purchasing an additional 763,505 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,229,004 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,272,846,000 after purchasing an additional 374,489 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,824,113 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,078,408,000 after purchasing an additional 85,123 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,524,329 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,725,079,000 after purchasing an additional 141,566 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $307.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V traded up $1.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $278.71. 8,948,291 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,955,996. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $277.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $266.44. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $216.14 and a 12-month high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $509.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

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.