Columbia Asset Management Lowers Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Columbia Asset Management reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 1.6%, holding 53,570 shares valued at approximately $19 million, making Visa its fourth largest holding.
• Visa's recent earnings report showed a 14.3% increase in revenue year-over-year, totaling $10.17 billion, and earnings per share (EPS) beat analysts' expectations at $2.98.
• A quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share was paid to stockholders, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.7%.

Columbia Asset Management lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,570 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 853 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 3.7% of Columbia Asset Management's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Columbia Asset Management's holdings in Visa were worth $19,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth $3,518,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,088 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,847,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,954 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at about $373,240,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $349.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $641.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.90. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $343.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $346.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $273.24 and a 12-month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Macquarie upped 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. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.96.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $183,815.10. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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