Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Stake Boosted by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 70,211 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Nadler Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $216,000. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $3,427,000. Richelieu Gestion SA bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $307,000. Finally, Cooper Financial Group lifted its stake in Visa by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 7,926 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,064,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total value of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:V opened at $268.16 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $227.68 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $273.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $273.61. The stock has a market cap of $490.45 billion, a PE ratio of 29.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Macquarie lifted their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.56.

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.