Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,249,087 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 225,623 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.0% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.28% of Visa worth $1,839,595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in V. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $50,378,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $1,955,403,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on V. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $372.84.

Visa Price Performance

V stock traded up $4.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $358.70. 3,702,810 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,855,011. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $355.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $341.24. 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 stock has a market cap of $661.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

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.