Howland Capital Management LLC Trims Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Howland Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 3.2%, selling 5,930 shares and retaining a total of 177,319 shares, worth approximately $62.14 million.
• Several institutional investors have made significant adjustments, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing their holdings by 38,416.3% to own nearly 14.76 million shares valued at over $5.17 billion.
• Visa announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, set to be paid on September 2nd, with a current dividend yield of 0.7%.

Howland Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,319 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 5,930 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 2.8% of Howland Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Howland Capital Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $62,143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Five 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Visa Price Performance

V stock traded down $6.66 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $338.81. The company had a trading volume of 8,655,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,746,410. The company has a market capitalization of $625.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $355.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $346.34. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $254.51 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 89,913 shares of company stock worth $32,902,432. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

About Visa

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.