Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Bank of Nova Scotia

Key Points

• The Bank of Nova Scotia decreased its stake in Visa Inc. by 21.7%, now holding 333,928 shares worth approximately $117 million.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.98 per share, surpassing estimates and showing a 14.3% increase in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.
• Visa recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with an annual yield of 0.7%.

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 21.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 333,928 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 92,621 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Visa were worth $117,014,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the first quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $338.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $625.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $355.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.34. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $254.51 and a 12-month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.84.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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