Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Venator Management LLC

Key Points

• Venator Management LLC has trimmed its position in Visa Inc. by 1.3%, making it the firm's second-largest investment, comprising about 10.7% of their holdings valued at approximately $35.7 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard and Northern Trust, have increased their stakes in Visa, with Vanguard now holding over $56 billion worth of shares.
• Analysts have given Visa a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with target prices ranging from $380.84 to $425.00, indicating strong bullish sentiment among market experts.

Venator Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,860 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,295 shares during the period. Visa comprises 10.7% of Venator Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Venator Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $35,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $306,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in Visa by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $159,523,000 after acquiring an additional 57,800 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Visa by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $57,727,000 after acquiring an additional 30,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC raised its stake in Visa by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $811,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock traded up $5.6280 during trading on Friday, reaching $349.3180. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,972,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,437,222. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The business's fifty day moving average price is $347.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $347.40. The firm has a market cap of $640.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.94. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $265.31 and a one year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.42 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were 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 owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 77,127 shares of company stock valued at $28,340,553. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.