Blue Whale Capital LLP Cuts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Blue Whale Capital LLP cut its stake in Visa by 11.5% in Q3, selling 12,439 shares and leaving it with 96,095 shares worth about $32.81 million (Visa is ~1.8% of the fund's holdings).
• CEO Ryan McInerney sold 10,485 shares on Jan. 2 for roughly $3.66 million, reducing his personal position by 52.73%, a notable insider sale.
• Visa beat quarterly estimates (EPS $3.17 vs. $3.14; revenue $10.90B vs. $10.69B), recently paid a $0.67 quarterly dividend, and holds a consensus analyst rating of Buy with an average target of $392.65.

Blue Whale Capital LLP cut its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 11.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 96,095 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 12,439 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 1.8% of Blue Whale Capital LLP's holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Blue Whale Capital LLP's holdings in Visa were worth $32,805,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in Visa by 287.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 89 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 344.8% in the 3rd quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 129 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $52,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total transaction of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at $3,282,641.18. The trade was a 52.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $411.00 price target (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $392.65.

Visa Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $314.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $328.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $336.81. The stock has a market cap of $570.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.78. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $299.00 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.69 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.75 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 25.14%.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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