Virtu Financial LLC Grows Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Virtu Financial LLC raised its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 734.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 22,326 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,652 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brio Consultants LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Brio Consultants LLC now owns 1,555 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 5,629 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Visa by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,640 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,282,000 after buying an additional 4,774 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:V opened at $290.52 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $529.42 billion, a PE ratio of 32.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $227.78 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $268.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $273.21.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The firm had revenue of $8.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on Visa from $321.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $297.00 price objective (down from $305.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $309.81.

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.