Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Boosts Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:VFree Report) by 29.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,627 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 4,028 shares during the quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ransom Advisory Ltd raised its stake in shares of 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. Bank OZK boosted its position in Visa by 3.7% in the third quarter. Bank OZK now owns 858 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Visa by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,710 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,704,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Visa by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frederick Financial Consultants LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

Visa Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $347.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $330.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.88. The company has a market cap of $623.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $365.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Visa (NYSE:VGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on V. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price target on Visa and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $397.91.

Get Our Latest Analysis on V

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.

Further Reading

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Visa (NYSE:V)

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