Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Argus Investors Counsel Inc.

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,472 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,064 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 2.0% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $3,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.76.

Visa Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of V traded down $1.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $274.29. The stock had a trading volume of 6,115,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,342,460. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $216.14 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $269.49. The firm has a market cap of $501.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Visa news, 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 owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,402 shares of company stock valued at $9,559,382. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.