RiverFront Investment Group LLC Buys 2,168 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

RiverFront Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,195 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 2,168 shares during the quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $6,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Visa by 970.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 211.9% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $277.62 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $271.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $273.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $507.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $227.78 and a one year high of $293.07.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.42. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The firm had revenue of $8.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $318.00 price objective for the company. Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, William Blair raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.93.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.