Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Osterweis Capital Management Inc.

Key Points

• Osterweis Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 6.0%, owning 137,963 shares valued at approximately $48.35 million, now ranking as its 16th largest investment.
• Visa recently exceeded earnings expectations with a reported $2.98 EPS for the last quarter, outperforming estimates of $2.85, and revealing revenue growth of 14.3% year-over-year.
• Analysts have set a consensus price target of $385.96 for Visa shares, with one strong buy, twenty buy ratings, and five hold ratings assigned in recent reports.

Osterweis Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,963 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 8,729 shares during the period. Visa comprises 0.0% of Osterweis Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Osterweis Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $48,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. Macquarie increased their price target on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho raised Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. 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, Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.96.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $343.28 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $268.23 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $629.16 billion, a PE ratio of 33.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $347.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.03.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were 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 was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.

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