Monetta Financial Services Inc. Cuts Position in Visa Inc. $V

Monetta Financial Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,400 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Monetta Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 82.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $183,117. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,897 shares of company stock worth $8,164,561. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $335.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $615.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $299.00 and a one year high of $375.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $342.43 and a 200 day moving average of $348.69.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group set a $425.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price target on Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.00.

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.