Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Sells 4,726 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Ameritas Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 28.7%, selling 4,726 shares, and now holds 11,715 shares valued at $4,160,000.
• Visa's recent quarterly earnings showed a profit of $2.98 per share, exceeding expectations and indicating a 14.3% revenue increase year-over-year.
• Analysts have recently updated their price targets for Visa, with estimates ranging from $391 to $425, reflecting strong confidence in the company's performance.

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lessened its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 28.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,715 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 4,726 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $4,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at $3,518,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Visa by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Visa by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,847,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,954 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $373,240,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $349.21 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day moving average is $343.65 and its 200 day moving average is $346.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $273.24 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $640.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.90.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on V. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Macquarie raised their price objective on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $389.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total value of $3,589,015.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $183,815.10. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% 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.

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