Principle Wealth Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,529 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,089 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.9% of Principle Wealth Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Principle Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $13,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after buying an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth $673,689,000. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth $623,022,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This 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 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock traded up $2.96 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $356.93. 3,915,274 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,404,370. The stock's fifty day moving average is $356.30 and its 200-day moving average is $345.00. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $254.51 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The stock has a market cap of $658.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.87, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Macquarie reduced their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. 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 currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $375.52.

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.