Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Cuts Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Nicola Wealth Management LTD. reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 13.4% in the first quarter, now owning 71,000 shares valued at approximately $24.88 million.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.98 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and demonstrating a revenue increase of 14.3% year-over-year.
• A recent dividend of $0.59 per share was declared, with an annualized yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 23.05%.

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 13.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,000 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 11,000 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 2.4% of Nicola Wealth Management LTD.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Nicola Wealth Management LTD.'s holdings in Visa were worth $24,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in Visa by 14.5% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $159,523,000 after acquiring an additional 57,800 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 610,517 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $192,948,000 after acquiring an additional 43,546 shares in the last quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 2.9% during the first quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,003,569,000 after acquiring an additional 955,392 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 1.5%

Visa stock opened at $343.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $629.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $268.23 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The company's 50-day moving average price is $347.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $347.03.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The business'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. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were 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 was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.96.

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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