American Century Companies Inc. Cuts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. cut its stake in Visa Inc. by 8.5%, now owning about 2.57 million shares valued at $901.8 million.
• Visa reported better-than-expected earnings of $2.98 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and showing a 14.3% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with a yield of 0.7%, to be paid to shareholders on September 2nd.

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 8.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,573,259 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 240,201 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 0.6% of American Century Companies Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.14% of Visa worth $901,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 5.7% in the first quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $306,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in shares of Visa by 14.5% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $159,523,000 after purchasing an additional 57,800 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $57,727,000 after buying an additional 30,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC raised its position in Visa by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $345.53 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $350.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $347.27. The firm has a market cap of $633.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.74, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $262.84 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 75,100 shares of company stock worth $27,643,224. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on V shares. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price target (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.84.

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.

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