Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Comerica Bank

Key Points

• Comerica Bank has reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 3.2%, now holding 592,661 shares valued at approximately $207.7 million.
• Analyst ratings remain positive for Visa, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target around $380.84.
• Visa's recent quarterly earnings showed a 14.3% year-over-year revenue increase, with an EPS of $2.98, outpacing analyst expectations.

Comerica Bank cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 592,661 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 19,440 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.9% of Comerica Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Comerica Bank's holdings in Visa were worth $207,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Visa by 4.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,654,189,000 after purchasing an additional 726,299 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Visa by 38,416.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,173,271,000 after purchasing an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Visa by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,321,754 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,210,207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,785 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,796,415 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,045,149,000 after purchasing an additional 164,008 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Truist Financial cut 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. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.84.

Insider Activity at Visa

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

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

V traded down $1.15 on Monday, reaching $348.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,019,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,490,094. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $347.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $347.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $639.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $267.67 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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.