Thompson Investment Management Inc. Reduces Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Thompson Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in Visa Inc. by 4.3%, owning 26,560 shares worth approximately $9.43 million after selling 1,195 shares in the second quarter.
• Visa reported $2.98 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenues increasing by 14.3% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, representing an annual yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 23.05%.

Thompson Investment Management Inc. cut its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,560 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,195 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.3% of Thompson Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Thompson Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $9,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of V. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,522,000 after buying an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 42,120 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $14,761,000 after purchasing an additional 3,795 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 867,704 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $304,096,000 after purchasing an additional 161,161 shares during the period. Finally, Adero Partners LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 4,188 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,468,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $348.39 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $344.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $346.98. 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 company has a market capitalization of $638.53 billion, a PE ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.90. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $278.35 and a 52-week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion during 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 business's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. 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 (DPR) is 23.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,815.10. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on V. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $389.00.

About Visa

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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