Violich Capital Management Inc. Sells 13,655 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Violich Capital Management Inc. sold 13,655 shares of Visa Inc., reducing its holdings by 9.2% to 134,380 shares, which now constitute 6.7% of its overall investment portfolio.
• Visa's most recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting earnings of $2.98 per share and revenue of $10.17 billion, up 14.3% compared to the previous year.
• Institutional investors hold 82.15% of Visa's stock, indicating strong institutional interest, while recent analyst ratings show a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price around $389.74.

Violich Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 134,380 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 13,655 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 6.7% of Violich Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Violich Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $47,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 50.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,733,000 after buying an additional 4,817 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 9.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 42,120 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $14,761,000 after buying an additional 3,795 shares during the period. Live Oak Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 1.0% in the first quarter. Live Oak Private Wealth LLC now owns 26,940 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $9,441,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 0.4% during the first quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 40,967 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $14,357,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Erste Group Bank lowered Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed 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. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 target price (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $389.74.

Visa Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $347.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $344.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $347.11. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $280.78 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $636.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.42 earnings per share. Visa's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,815.10. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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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