Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Has $5.40 Billion Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 4.6%, owning approximately $5.40 billion worth of shares after selling 749,425 in the first quarter.
• Insider sales include CEO Ryan Mcinerney offloading 8,630 shares for over $3 million, leading to a 94.14% decrease in his ownership.
• Visa recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.7%, set to be paid on September 2nd.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,413,397 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 749,425 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.9% of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.83% of Visa worth $5,401,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Visa by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $7,526,660,000 after purchasing an additional 866,596 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,356,614,000 after acquiring an additional 241,057 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Visa by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Visa by 38,416.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 14.9% in 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. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Down 2.3%

V stock traded down $7.76 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $331.98. The company had a trading volume of 8,793,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,237,998. 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 1 year low of $257.92 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $353.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.87. The company has a market capitalization of $612.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.42, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 75,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,643,224 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

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.