Select Equity Group L.P. Decreases Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Select Equity Group L.P. reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 29.2%, now holding 768,660 shares valued at approximately $269 million.
• Analysts have shown confidence in Visa, with upgrades from "hold" to "buy" ratings, and a consensus price target set at $385.96.
• Visa's recent financial performance includes a quarterly earnings beat, reporting $2.98 EPS against an expectation of $2.85, alongside a 14.3% year-over-year revenue increase.

Select Equity Group L.P. cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 29.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 768,660 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 317,650 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.2% of Select Equity Group L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Select Equity Group L.P.'s holdings in Visa were worth $269,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.9% in the first quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the first quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,209,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,265,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the first quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 3,372 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,182,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,839 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,345,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on V shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.96.

Visa Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $343.02 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $268.23 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $348.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.22. The company has a market capitalization of $628.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The business's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,293 shares of company stock worth $8,114,295. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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