James Hambro & Partners LLP Reduces Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• James Hambro & Partners LLP reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 0.8%, holding 466,773 shares worth approximately $165.6 million.
• Several institutional investors have made significant changes to their Visa holdings, with Nuveen LLC acquiring a new stake worth about $3.52 billion in the first quarter.
• Visa's stock has a consensus target price of $385.96, with analysts giving it an average rating of "Moderate Buy".

James Hambro & Partners LLP lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 466,773 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 3,918 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 6.6% of James Hambro & Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. James Hambro & Partners LLP's holdings in Visa were worth $165,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,518,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,088 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Visa by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,847,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,954 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $373,240,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Visa by 7.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 955,392 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on V. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $340.27 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $344.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $346.54. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $273.20 and a one year high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $623.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is 23.05%.

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.

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