Audent Global Asset Management LLC Lowers Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Audent Global Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 45.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,083 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,710 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.0% of Audent Global Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Audent Global Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Visa by 970.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 211.9% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on V. BNP Paribas upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $317.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Compass Point began coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price target for the company. Finally, Macquarie increased their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.74.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $315.08 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $586.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.14 and a 1-year high of $316.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $292.09 and its 200 day moving average is $278.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

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.