Auxano Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Auxano Advisors LLC cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,368 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.8% of Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WealthTrust Axiom LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $296,000. Certuity LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 11,080 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,885,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 69,732 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $18,155,000 after purchasing an additional 3,572 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,419 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its stake in Visa by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 17,812 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,637,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

V traded down $3.23 on Tuesday, hitting $268.61. 6,319,410 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,932,800. The firm has a market cap of $493.30 billion, a PE ratio of 30.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.14 and a twelve month high of $290.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $279.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $264.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The company had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on V shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,874 shares of company stock worth $5,506,827. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Visa

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.