Wedbush Securities Inc. Has $22.22 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 62,589 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.8% of Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $22,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 82.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on V. Citigroup raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.00.

Visa Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $335.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $343.52 and its 200 day moving average is $348.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $615.66 billion, a PE ratio of 32.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.87. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $299.00 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $830,432.64. This represents a 26.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total value of $3,575,385.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $183,117. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 23,897 shares of company stock worth $8,164,561 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa 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.