Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. has reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 1.0%, maintaining Visa as its 6th largest position, valued at approximately $77.67 million.
• Analysts have recently set a consensus target price of $383.17 for Visa, with multiple firms issuing "buy" ratings and raising their price targets.
• Visa reported a net margin of 52.16% and earnings of $2.98 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations during its latest quarterly earnings announcement.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,624 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,155 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.5% of Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $77,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FWL Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 2.9% in the first quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 0.8% in the first quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank grew its holdings in Visa by 0.9% in the first quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 3,372 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 sold 22,293 shares of company stock valued at $8,114,295. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Macquarie raised their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.96.

Visa Trading Down 2.3%

Visa stock traded down $7.98 during trading on Friday, reaching $343.02. 5,447,231 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,060,212. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $268.23 and a 52-week 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. The company has a market capitalization of $628.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $348.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $347.27.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 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 company had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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