MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 1,420 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 0.3%, owning 522,779 shares after selling 1,420 shares, representing 1.0% of its portfolio worth approximately $183 million.
• Insider transactions included significant sales by Paul D. Fabara and CEO Ryan Mcinerney, with Fabara selling 11,636 shares and Mcinerney selling 8,630 shares, indicating a decrease of 30.58% and 94.14% in their respective positions.
• Visa's quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $2.98, surpassing estimates, with revenue up 14.3% year-over-year, while the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 to be paid on September 2nd.

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 522,779 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,420 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.0% of MetLife Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $183,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ICONIQ Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 8,189 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,870,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261 shares in the last quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC now owns 10,590 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,711,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE raised its stake in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 875,340 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $306,772,000 after acquiring an additional 38,922 shares in the last quarter. AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,204 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dodge & Cox raised its stake in shares of Visa by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 959 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 $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 have sold 77,127 shares of company stock valued at $28,340,553 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on V. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

Visa Stock Up 1.6%

V stock opened at $349.3180 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $347.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.39. The company has a market capitalization of $640.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $265.31 and a 12 month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The business'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 earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. 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 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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