Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is LS Investment Advisors LLC’s 6th Largest Position

LS Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,262 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 2.9% of LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of V. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Visa by 970.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the second quarter worth $35,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Visa in the second quarter valued at $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $305.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $557.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $282.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $274.20. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $240.97 and a 52-week high of $309.00.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $317.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Macquarie increased their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.