Bailard Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Bailard Inc. reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 161,755 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,361 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.3% of Bailard Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $57,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock opened at $339.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $621.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $342.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $348.78. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $299.00 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued 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 business had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,897 shares of company stock worth $8,164,561. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Company 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.