Partners Capital Investment Group LLP Acquires 15,580 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Partners Capital Investment Group LLP increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 92.1% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 15,580 shares, bringing their total to 32,501 shares worth approximately $11,390,000.
• Insider activity saw notable sales of company stock, with Paul D. Fabara and CEO Ryan Mcinerney both significantly reducing their holdings in recent transactions.
• Visa reported $2.98 earnings per share for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and declared a dividend of $0.59 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 0.7%.

Partners Capital Investment Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 92.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,501 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 15,580 shares during the period. Partners Capital Investment Group LLP's holdings in Visa were worth $11,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $5,173,271,000 after purchasing an additional 14,723,050 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth about $3,518,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $673,689,000. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 295.4% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,362,202 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $746,550,000 after acquiring an additional 1,764,781 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa 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 $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded up $5.6280 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $349.3180. 4,972,225 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,437,222. 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 50 day simple moving average of $347.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $347.40. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $265.31 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $640.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its 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 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 the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid 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 payout ratio is currently 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.