Visa Inc. $V Holdings Trimmed by Banque Transatlantique SA

Key Points

• Banque Transatlantique SA reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 27% in Q1, now holding a total of 444,909 shares valued at approximately $144 million.
• Visa's quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $2.98, surpassing expectations, while the company's revenue increased by 14.3% year-over-year to $10.17 billion.
• Recent analyst ratings for Visa reflect a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $383.17, highlighting positive sentiment among equities analysts.

Banque Transatlantique SA reduced its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 27.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 444,909 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 164,451 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 2.7% of Banque Transatlantique SA's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Banque Transatlantique SA's holdings in Visa were worth $144,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,219,947 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $412,928,000 after buying an additional 189,629 shares during the last quarter. Alexis Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Visa by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Alexis Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,457 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,539,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Visa by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 8,714,323 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,959,846,000 after buying an additional 432,788 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,831 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,744,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were 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 directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,293 shares of company stock valued at $8,114,295. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded down $0.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $350.23. 4,322,638 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,283,867. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $268.23 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $641.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $348.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $347.36.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 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 last year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price target (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.96.

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.