Smith Group Asset Management LLC Acquires 1,703 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Smith Group Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 73.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,018 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 82.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

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

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $347.34 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $636.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.92, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $344.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $347.87. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $280.78 and a 52 week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. Visa’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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 $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $408.00 price target (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $392.75.

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.