International Assets Investment Management LLC Sells 6,219 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• International Assets Investment Management cut its Visa stake by 15.6% in Q1, selling 6,219 shares and leaving it with 33,530 shares worth about $10.0 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Visa, with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $397.91; several firms recently reiterated or raised their targets.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and also announced a $20 billion share buyback plus a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share.

International Assets Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 15.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,530 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 6,219 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $10,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 valued at $29,038,140,000 after acquiring an additional 626,821 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $15,411,395,000 after purchasing an additional 388,996 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $14,411,480,000 after purchasing an additional 716,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.7% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 398,459 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $397.91.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $349.05 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $626.12 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $365.02. The business's 50-day moving average price is $330.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $324.86.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.Visa's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the 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 transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. The trade was a 40.87% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Company 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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