Orange Investment Advisors Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Orange Investment Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 29,846 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,889 shares during the period. Visa makes up 1.2% of Orange Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Orange Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $9,021,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Patton Fund Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 10.4% during the first quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 724 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 0.8% in the first quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,924 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $14,484,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 0.3% in the first quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 34,794 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,516,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in Visa by 362.7% during the first quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 40,298 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,180,000 after buying an additional 31,589 shares during the period. Finally, Lam Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth about $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $341.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $613.22 billion, a PE ratio of 29.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $323.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $324.40. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $359.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.34%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America began coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.96.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.