Royal Bank of Canada Sells 462,726 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 3.4% in the first quarter, lowering its total shares to 13,288,187 and making Visa about 1.0% of its investment portfolio.
• Visa's stock price recently opened at $351.92, with a 52-week high of $375.51 and a net margin of 52.16% reported in recent quarterly earnings.
• Insider sales included CEO Ryan McInerney selling 8,630 shares at an average price of $353.82, marking a decrease of 94.14% in his share ownership.

Royal Bank of Canada reduced its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,288,187 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 462,726 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.0% of Royal Bank of Canada's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.72% of Visa worth $4,656,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 38,416.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,518,533,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $673,689,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,321,754 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,210,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,785 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 0.1%

Visa stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $350.35. The stock had a trading volume of 4,035,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,513,681. 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 market capitalization of $642.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $268.23 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $348.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $347.36.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,507 shares of company stock valued at $25,213,475 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $383.17.

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.