Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 44,828 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC has reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by **7.3%**, selling **44,828 shares** during the first quarter, leaving it with **565,689 shares** valued at approximately **$198.25 million**.
• Insider transactions include General Counsel **Julie B. Rottenberg** selling **2,027 shares** and insider **Paul D. Fabara** selling **46,214 shares**, indicating a significant reduction in their holdings.
• Visa recently reported **$2.98 EPS**, exceeding the consensus estimate, and announced a **quarterly dividend** of **$0.59 per share**, reflecting an annualized yield of **0.7%**.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 565,689 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 44,828 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 0.8% of Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $198,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth $56,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was 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 owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 77,127 shares of company stock valued at $28,340,553 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho raised shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

V stock opened at $348.89 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $639.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $347.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $347.39. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $267.67 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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