Erste Asset Management GmbH Acquires 3,285 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 0.6%, acquiring an additional 3,285 shares, bringing its total to 520,808 shares, valued at approximately $170.13 million.
• Analyst ratings for Visa are predominantly positive, with 22 "Buy" ratings and a price target increase from $396 to $408 by Barclays.
• Insiders sold a total of 77,127 shares of Visa stock worth over $28 million in the last 90 days, indicating a potential shift in insider sentiment.

Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 520,808 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 3,285 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 2.1% of Erste Asset Management GmbH's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Erste Asset Management GmbH's holdings in Visa were worth $170,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Visa by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Visa by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $261,000. SIH Partners LLLP purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,172,000. Finally, Harvest Investment Services LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $360,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 target price (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,127 shares of company stock worth $28,340,553 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE V opened at $342.51 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $265.31 and a 52 week high of $375.51. 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $349.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.41. The firm has a market cap of $627.75 billion, a PE ratio of 33.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. Visa's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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