First Trust Advisors LP Sells 67,342 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP reduced its Visa stake by 3.5% in the first quarter, selling 67,342 shares and ending with about 1.87 million shares valued at roughly $565.4 million.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.31 and revenue of $11.23 billion, both ahead of analyst estimates. Revenue also rose 17.1% year over year.
• Analysts remain bullish on Visa, with a consensus “Buy” rating and average price target of $398.36. The company also authorized a $20 billion stock buyback and continued its quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share.

First Trust Advisors LP cut its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,870,705 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 67,342 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.10% of Visa worth $565,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after buying an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $29,038,140,000 after acquiring an additional 626,821 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $15,411,395,000 after acquiring an additional 388,996 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $14,411,480,000 after acquiring an additional 716,218 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Visa by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,835,336 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $8,359,291,000 after acquiring an additional 398,459 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $398.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $355.94 on Wednesday. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $293.89 and a 52-week high of $365.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $638.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.75. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $335.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $325.08.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. Visa's revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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