Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 73.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 620,160 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,742,042 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.1% of Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $217,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after buying an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,526,660,000 after buying an additional 866,596 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,356,614,000 after buying an additional 241,057 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Visa by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Visa by 38,416.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after purchasing an additional 14,723,050 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $342.66 on Thursday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $351.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $347.19. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $258.74 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $628.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.46, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect 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 paid a $0.59 dividend. 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 23.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 75,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,643,224 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. 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 report on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Visa 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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