Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Westwood Holdings Group Inc. decreased its stake in Visa Inc. by 24.9% during the 1st quarter, owning 258,945 shares worth approximately $90.75 million after selling 86,027 shares.
• Visa reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.98, beating analysts' estimates and marking a 14.3% increase in revenue year-over-year to $10.17 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with an ex-dividend date of August 12th, representing a 0.7% yield and a payout ratio of 23.05%.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 24.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 258,945 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 86,027 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $90,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Visa by 38,416.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings 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 valued at $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $673,689,000. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $623,022,000. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,764,781 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 75,100 shares of company stock worth $27,643,224. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on V. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock traded up $4.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $336.86. The company had a trading volume of 6,059,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,634,242. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $353.36 and a 200 day moving average of $346.87. The firm has a market cap of $621.56 billion, a PE ratio of 32.90, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $258.74 and a one year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Visa Company 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.