Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Sells 102,371 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Mawer Investment Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 4.1%, selling 102,371 shares and maintaining ownership of 2,414,064 shares, which represent approximately 4.1% of its portfolio.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.76 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and marking a 9.3% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Insider trading activity saw CEO Ryan Mcinerney sell 8,630 shares, highlighting a significant decrease in his ownership stake in the company.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,414,064 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 102,371 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 4.1% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.13% of Visa worth $846,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in V. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Down 2.0%

Visa stock traded down $6.94 during trading on Friday, hitting $338.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,756,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,610,929. The stock has a market capitalization of $624.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock's fifty day moving average is $355.36 and its 200 day moving average is $346.13. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $254.51 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS 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 company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 23.05%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on V. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Macquarie lifted their price target on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

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.