J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Reduces Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG has reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 29.8%, now owning 56,377 shares valued at approximately $19.9 million, following a sale of 23,953 shares in the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including UBS and Macquarie, have revised their price targets for Visa, with UBS setting a target of $415.00 and Macquarie increasing theirs to $425.00.
• CEO Ryan McInerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa at an average price of $342.30, significantly lowering his ownership stake by 95.13%.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 29.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,377 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 23,953 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Visa were worth $19,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 5.7% during the first quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its holdings in Visa by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $159,523,000 after purchasing an additional 57,800 shares during the period. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC now owns 62,890 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $22,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,484 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Visa by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of V stock opened at $349.90 on Monday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $343.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $346.81. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $273.24 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a market cap of $641.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.