Meridian Management Co. Purchases 3,320 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Meridian Management Co. boosted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:VFree Report) by 30.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,326 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 3,320 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.2% of Meridian Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,024,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 2.0% in the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,541 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $526,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Chapman Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 0.9% in the third quarter. Chapman Financial Group LLC now owns 3,211 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd lifted its stake in Visa by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd now owns 9,447 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,313,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 4.9% in the third quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC now owns 659 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank OZK lifted its stake in Visa by 3.7% in the third quarter. Bank OZK now owns 858 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $389.33.

Get Our Latest Report on Visa

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE V opened at $317.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $569.27 billion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $315.33 and a 200 day moving average of $324.87. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Visa (NYSE:VGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Profile

(Free Report)

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Visa (NYSE:V)

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