Visa Inc. $V Stake Lifted by GAMMA Investing LLC

Key Points

• GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. by 9.5%, owning a total of 46,140 shares valued at approximately $16.38 million.
• Institutional investors control 82.15% of Visa's stock, with Vanguard Group now holding over $56 billion of the company's shares after increasing its position in the first quarter.
• Visa reported earnings of $2.98 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share.

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,140 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 4,020 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.0% of GAMMA Investing LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $16,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,518,533,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $673,689,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Visa by 1.1% in 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 buying an additional 1,677,088 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Visa by 17.7% in 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 buying an additional 1,651,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in Visa in the first quarter worth approximately $373,240,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on V. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.8%

Visa stock opened at $344.28 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $630.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $345.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $268.23 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.05%.

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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