Conning Inc. Sells 3,488 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Conning Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 13.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,019 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 3,488 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $8,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of V. Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $424,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Leverage Partners Absolute Return Fund SPC bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 639,608 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $202,142,000 after purchasing an additional 14,367 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:V traded up $2.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $356.91. The stock had a trading volume of 2,511,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,820,583. The stock has a market capitalization of $658.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.92. The firm's 50 day moving average is $356.43 and its 200-day moving average is $342.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.51 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on V. Citigroup initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.84.

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.