Aviance Capital Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 28.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,474 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 4,715 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 0.9% of Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $263.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $481.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.68 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $273.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on V. Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $307.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total transaction of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.