Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Cuts Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV decreased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the fourth 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 position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on V. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Seven 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $362.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 1.1 %

V opened at $345.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. 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. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $337.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $323.67.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Visa 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.