Ascent Group LLC Sells 1,597 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Ascent Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 58,983 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,597 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 0.8% of Ascent Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $20,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 14.5% in the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $159,523,000 after purchasing an additional 57,800 shares during the last quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.9% in the first quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC now owns 62,890 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $22,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,484 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 955,392 shares during the period. Finally, Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on V shares. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Erste Group Bank downgraded Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price target (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $389.00.

Visa Trading Down 0.2%

V opened at $349.21 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $273.24 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $343.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $346.89. The firm has a market cap of $640.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

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

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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