Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 90,300 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 0.6% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Visa were worth $32,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of V. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter worth $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the second quarter worth $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter worth $27,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 82.0% in the second quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 83.1% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $343.63 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $343.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.97. The company has a market capitalization of $629.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.56, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.90.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The company had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank lowered Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Macquarie increased their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $410.00 target price on Visa and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $389.00.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,815.10. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.