Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Chesley Taft & Associates LLC

Key Points

• Chesley Taft & Associates LLC reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 1.3%, selling 1,660 shares, and now holds 126,923 shares valued at approximately $45.06 million.
• Visa recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with a current annualized dividend yield of 0.7%.
• Visa's stock has seen an increase of 1.6%, with recent earnings surpassing expectations, reporting $2.98 earnings per share against a consensus of $2.85.

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,923 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,660 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 2.0% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $45,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V traded down $7.75 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $338.45. 7,518,650 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,913,677. The firm has a market capitalization of $620.32 billion, a PE ratio of 33.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.92. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $345.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $346.47. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $268.23 and a 12 month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.96.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, 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 in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.