Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Magellan Asset Management Ltd

Key Points

• Magellan Asset Management Ltd decreased its stake in Visa Inc. by 8.8% in Q1, holding 892,713 shares valued at approximately $312.86 million.
• Visa's recent earnings report beat estimates with $2.98 EPS and revenue of $10.17 billion, representing a 14.3% year-over-year growth.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with a yield of 0.7%, to be paid on September 2nd.

Magellan Asset Management Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 8.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 892,713 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 85,994 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 3.8% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Magellan Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Visa were worth $312,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $673,689,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $623,022,000. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 295.4% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,362,202 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $746,550,000 after buying an additional 1,764,781 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of V stock opened at $336.86 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $258.74 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $352.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $347.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $621.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.94.

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, beating 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 analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on V. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Macquarie raised their price objective on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the business's 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 approximately $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 75,100 shares of company stock worth $27,643,224. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by 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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