Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 8.3%, selling 749 shares and leaving them with a total of 8,254 shares valued at approximately $2.93 million.
• The company's earnings per share for the quarter were $2.98, exceeding expectations and contributing to a revenue of $10.17 billion, which is a 14.3% increase year-over-year.
• Visa's stock is currently owned 82.15% by institutional investors, and analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $389.00.

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 8.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,254 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 749 shares during the period. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $2,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Visa by 4.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,654,189,000 after acquiring an additional 726,299 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,003,569,000 after acquiring an additional 955,392 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 3.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,675,220 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,442,157,000 after acquiring an additional 434,217 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Visa by 17.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,847,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,954 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $344.44 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $280.78 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $631.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $344.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $347.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $410.00 price objective on Visa and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Erste Group Bank lowered Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Macquarie increased their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $389.00.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were 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 owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Visa

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.

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