Renaissance Investment Group LLC Cuts Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Renaissance Investment Group LLC reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 7.1%, now owning 37,079 shares worth approximately $12.99 million, while institutional investors collectively own 82.15% of Visa's stock.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.76 per share for the latest quarter, surpassing expectations, and showed a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.3%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, yielding approximately 0.66% annually, with a payout ratio of 23.72%.

Renaissance Investment Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,079 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,824 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 3.2% of Renaissance Investment Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Renaissance Investment Group LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $12,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in V. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 167 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V traded down $6.92 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $338.55. The stock had a trading volume of 5,756,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,610,929. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $355.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $346.13. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $254.51 and a one year high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $624.68 billion, a PE ratio of 33.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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.