Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp

Key Points

• British Columbia Investment Management Corp reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 0.6%, selling 3,142 shares and retaining 538,735 shares valued at approximately $188.8 million, making Visa the 13th largest position in its portfolio.
• Visa recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59, with a payout ratio of 23.05%, indicating a yield of 0.7% for shareholders of record.
• Brokerages have largely given Visa an "outperform" rating, with many analysts raising their price targets, resulting in a consensus target price of $380.84.

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 538,735 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 3,142 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.2% of BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Visa were worth $188,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Visa by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,733,000 after acquiring an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Topsail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,676,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 295.4% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,362,202 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $746,550,000 after acquiring an additional 1,764,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Capital Partners LLC now owns 41,365 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $13,073,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Macquarie raised their price objective on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V traded up $5.6280 during trading on Friday, reaching $349.3180. The stock had a trading volume of 4,972,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,490,094. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $347.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $347.39. The stock has a market cap of $640.23 billion, a PE ratio of 34.11, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $265.31 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The business's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 77,127 shares of company stock worth $28,340,553. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa 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.