Meridian Financial Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Meridian Financial Partners LLC trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,220 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 174 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.5% of Meridian Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Meridian Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,881,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its position in Visa by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 55,727 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $19,530,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 167 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in Visa by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,562 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in Visa by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 94,359 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,069,000 after purchasing an additional 10,178 shares during the period. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its position in Visa by 738.5% during the 1st quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 23,940 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $8,390,000 after purchasing an additional 21,085 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $370.44 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $683.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.34, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $345.45 and its 200 day moving average is $335.88. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $371.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Visa’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total transaction of $3,020,792.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $188,186.28. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 168,162 shares of company stock worth $58,645,479. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.