Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Platinum Investment Management Ltd. has reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 4.2%, resulting in ownership of 25,209 shares and making it the company's 27th biggest holding.
• Visa's quarterly revenue increased by 14.3% year-over-year to $10.17 billion, with an EPS of $2.98 that exceeded analysts' expectations.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in Visa, indicating a positive sentiment towards the company's stock amidst various analyst upgrades, including an average target price of $385.96.

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. lowered its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,209 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,106 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 0.6% of Platinum Investment Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Platinum Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in Visa were worth $8,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,727 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,358,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,369 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Constitution Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 3,720 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,304,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on V shares. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.96.

Visa Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $349.90 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $343.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $346.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $641.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.90. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $273.24 and a 12-month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion during 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%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given 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 payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total value of $3,589,015.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.

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