Meridian Management Co. Lowers Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Meridian Management Co. lowered its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,524 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,362 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.1% of Meridian Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 970.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 211.9% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:V opened at $287.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.78 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The company has a 50-day moving average of $268.29 and a 200 day moving average of $273.31. The firm has a market cap of $523.66 billion, a PE ratio of 32.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. William Blair raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $318.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Compass Point started coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price target on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $309.81.

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.