Blume Capital Management Inc. Sells 50 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Blume Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,998 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 17,418.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,737,229 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,233,338,000 after purchasing an additional 4,710,188 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $358,349,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Visa by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,929,979 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $903,955,000 after acquiring an additional 999,167 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,983,190 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $916,174,000 after acquiring an additional 871,439 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.00.

Visa Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE V traded up $1.31 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $278.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,062,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,866,943. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $277.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $266.37. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $216.14 and a 52-week high of $290.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $509.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.