Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.

Key Points

• Landscape Capital Management reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 26.6%, selling 7,804 shares and now holding 21,513 shares valued at approximately $7.54 million.
• Visa's recent earnings report showed EPS of $2.98, surpassing estimates, and revenue of $10.17 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 14.3%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.7%, signaling continued shareholder returns.

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. reduced its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 26.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,513 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 7,804 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 0.7% of Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.'s holdings in Visa were worth $7,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in V. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% in the first 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. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the first quarter worth $3,518,533,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $673,689,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 14.9% during 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 buying an additional 1,723,785 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after buying an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded up $2.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $351.92. The stock had a trading volume of 3,670,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,856,767. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $348.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $347.36. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $268.23 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $645.00 billion, a PE ratio of 34.37, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.92.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The firm's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid 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 is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,507 shares of company stock valued at $25,213,475 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer upped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

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.