True North Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• True North Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 8.0% during the first quarter, now owning 16,178 shares worth approximately $5,670,000.
• Visa's latest earnings report exceeded expectations, with an EPS of $2.98 and revenue of $10.17 billion, marking a 14.3% year-over-year increase.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, set to be paid on September 2nd, reflecting a 0.7% dividend yield.

True North Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,178 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,398 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.0% of True North Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. True North Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $5,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Taylor Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter valued at $219,000. Johnson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth $793,000. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC now owns 12,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,406,000 after purchasing an additional 980 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 78,024 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $27,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,363 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 103,488 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $36,268,000 after purchasing an additional 13,317 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,643,224 in the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Price Performance

V stock traded up $4.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $336.86. 6,071,880 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,296,455. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $617.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $258.74 and a 52-week high of $375.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $352.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $347.26.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%. The company 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 firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. Visa's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on V shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.