Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 225,623 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,249,087 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 225,623 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.0% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of Visa worth $1,839,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth about $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Citigroup started coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Evercore ISI started coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. Mizuho raised Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.84.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded down $2.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $354.43. 6,964,583 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,837,239. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $653.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $356.43 and a 200 day moving average of $342.00.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The firm's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.