Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft Reduces Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced its Visa holdings by 6.1%, selling 2,178 shares, and now owns 33,716 shares, worth approximately $11.77 million.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.98 per share for the quarter, exceeding expectations of $2.85, and also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share.
• The company has received various analyst ratings, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $375.52.

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,716 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,178 shares during the period. Visa makes up 0.9% of Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft's holdings in Visa were worth $11,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter worth about $54,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 28.5% in the first quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 167 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

Visa Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of Visa stock traded down $6.66 on Friday, reaching $338.81. The stock had a trading volume of 8,655,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,632,218. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $355.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $346.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $254.51 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $625.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432. Company 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.