Visa Inc. $V is Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC trimmed its Visa stake by 4.3% to 116,857 shares (selling 5,213 shares), leaving Visa as its 2nd-largest holding at about $40.98 million, or roughly 4.1% of the firm's portfolio.
• Several large institutions materially increased positions in Visa — including Corient Private Wealth (+110.4% to 3.95M shares), Holocene Advisors (+286.4% to 2.53M shares) and SG Americas (+121.7% to 3.02M shares) — leaving institutional ownership at about 82.15%.
• Visa recently beat quarterly estimates with $3.17 EPS and $10.90B revenue (revenue +14.6% YoY), pays a $0.67 quarterly dividend (0.9% yield), and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Buy" with an average target of $387.79.

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC decreased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 116,857 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 5,213 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 4.1% of Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $40,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 110.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,954,937 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,396,930,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,289 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 286.4% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,526,026 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $862,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872,362 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 121.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,022,411 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,059,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658,954 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $565,684,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 73.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,197,405 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,091,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353,441 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of V opened at $309.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $562.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $309.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $328.16. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.69 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.75 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 12.84 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Visa from $425.00 to $390.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $411.00 price target (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 price target for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $387.79.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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