Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. Acquires 1,216 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,157 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after buying an additional 1,677,088 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Visa by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,654,189,000 after buying an additional 726,299 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after buying an additional 955,392 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,675,220 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,442,157,000 after buying an additional 434,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Visa by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,847,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,954 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were 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 owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $347.17 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $636.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.90. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $280.78 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $344.68 and a 200-day moving average of $347.11.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $415.00 price target (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $389.74.

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.