Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Sells 272 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,790 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 272 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the second quarter worth $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE V opened at $335.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $615.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.90, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $343.52 and a 200-day moving average of $348.62. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $183,117. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 23,897 shares of company stock valued at $8,164,561 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. UBS Group set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.00.

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.