Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Provident Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Provident Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 0.3%, now holding 266,578 shares worth approximately $93.4 million, which makes it Visa's largest position in their portfolio.
• Despite Provident's reduction, other institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Visa, with GAMMA Investing LLC's stake growing by a staggering 38,416.3%.
• Visa announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59, to be paid on September 2nd, with a current dividend yield of 0.7%.

Provident Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 266,578 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 791 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 8.8% of Provident Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Provident Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $93,425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of V. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 5.7% in the first quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth $306,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $57,727,000 after purchasing an additional 30,185 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 610,517 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $192,948,000 after purchasing an additional 43,546 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.84.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock traded down $7.76 on Thursday, reaching $331.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,793,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,237,998. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $257.92 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $612.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.42, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.94. 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 moving average price of $353.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $346.87.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The company's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,643,224 in the last three months. 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.