Principle Wealth Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Principle Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Visa Inc. by 5.1%, now owning 39,437 shares valued at approximately $14 million, making it the 24th largest position in their portfolio.
• Visa Inc. reported a strong quarterly earnings with $2.98 EPS, surpassing expectations of $2.85 and showing a 14.3% year-over-year revenue increase.
• Analysts have varied ratings on Visa, with four analysts rating it as a "Strong Buy" and a consensus price target of $392.75.

Principle Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 5.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,437 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 1,908 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.9% of Principle Wealth Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Principle Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $14,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 82.0% in the second quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup raised shares of Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $392.75.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $347.34 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $280.78 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The stock has a market cap of $636.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.90. 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 50 day moving average of $344.79 and a 200 day moving average of $347.87.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Insider Activity at Visa

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

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding V? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.