Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV decreased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 259,738 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 26,020 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Visa were worth $82,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $345.30 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business has a 50-day moving average of $337.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $323.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $641.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.51 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.38.

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.