North Star Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,164 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

North Star Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 145,033 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,164 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 2.2% of North Star Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $51,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Oak Associates Ltd. OH lifted its position in shares of Visa by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH now owns 149,973 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $53,248,000 after acquiring an additional 2,077 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC increased its stake in Visa by 2.0% in the second quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 27,147 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $9,639,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp increased its stake in Visa by 3.5% in the second quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 14,065 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,994,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.9% during the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 178,620 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $63,419,000 after purchasing an additional 10,004 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its position in shares of Visa by 107.2% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 15,107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,364,000 after purchasing an additional 7,817 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,117. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,175,152 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.1%

V stock opened at $328.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $598.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $340.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $347.74. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The company 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Erste Group Bank lowered Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Citigroup raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.00.

About Visa

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.