Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Has $257.19 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 24.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 733,856 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 238,704 shares during the period. Visa makes up 4.0% of Liontrust Investment Partners LLP's portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP's holdings in Visa were worth $257,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Visa by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,526,660,000 after buying an additional 866,596 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,356,614,000 after buying an additional 241,057 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Visa by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% during 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 buying an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on V. Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price target (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,772,810. This trade represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 75,100 shares of company stock worth $27,643,224. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:V opened at $345.53 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $350.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $347.27. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $262.84 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $633.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.74, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. 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 prior year, the company posted $2.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is 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 23.05%.

Visa Company 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.

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