Boston Common Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Boston Common Asset Management LLC has reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 6.8%, now holding 93,661 shares, which constitutes about 0.9% of its portfolio.
• Visa recently reported strong earnings with a $2.98 EPS, exceeding expectations of $2.85, and generated $10.17 billion in revenue for the quarter, a 14.3% increase year-over-year.
• Wall Street analysts remain optimistic about Visa, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price around $389.00.

Boston Common Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 6.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,661 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 6,870 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.9% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $33,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Visa by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its position in Visa by 14.5% during the 1st 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. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Visa by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $862,000. Finally, Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC grew its position in Visa by 5.9% during the 1st 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.8%

V stock opened at $351.96 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $343.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.93. The company has a market capitalization of $645.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.90. 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 12 month low of $274.01 and a 12 month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business'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. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $183,815.10. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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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