Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Sawgrass Asset Management LLC

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,567 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 817 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.6% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $14,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 52.9% during the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.2 %

Visa stock traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $267.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,111,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,227,860. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.78 and a 52-week high of $290.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $266.41 and its 200 day moving average is $273.59. The company has a market cap of $489.02 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The business had revenue of $8.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $322.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Wedbush increased their price target on Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.25.

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.