Sowell Financial Services LLC Has $13.77 Million Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Sowell Financial Services LLC lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,284 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,439 shares during the period. Visa makes up 0.6% of Sowell Financial Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $13,767,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Visa by 38,416.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $1,955,403,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 17,018.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,248,079,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926,049 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $2,978,899.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $185,576.46. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,448 shares of company stock valued at $50,133,659 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.80.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $355.23 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $655.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $350.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $338.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Visa’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.51 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

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.