Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Longview Partners Guernsey LTD

Key Points

• Longview Partners Guernsey LTD has reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 13.0%, holding 1,739,126 shares valued at approximately $609.49 million as of the latest SEC disclosure.
• Several institutional investors, including Brighton Jones LLC and Boothbay Fund Management LLC, have significantly increased their holdings in Visa during the fourth quarter, reflecting a growing confidence in the company.
• Visa recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, showcasing a dividend payout ratio of 23.05% and a dividend yield of 0.7%.

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,739,126 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 260,842 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 4.9% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD owned about 0.09% of Visa worth $609,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $56,452,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Visa by 4.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,654,189,000 after buying an additional 726,299 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $5,173,271,000 after buying an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position 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 valued at $4,210,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Visa by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,796,415 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $4,045,149,000 after acquiring an additional 164,008 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.1%

Visa stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $350.10. 4,987,056 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,555,576. The firm has a market cap of $641.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $268.23 and a 1 year high of $375.51. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $347.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $347.44.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The company 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%.Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Macquarie raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,127 shares of company stock valued at $28,340,553. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.