Visa Inc. $V Stake Reduced by Aviso Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Aviso Financial Inc. has reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 0.5%, now holding 283,225 shares valued at approximately $99.26 million, making Visa the firm's second largest holding.
• Analysts have recently increased their price targets for Visa, with Macquarie raising its target from $380 to $425, while the average price target is now $380.84 with a "Moderate Buy" rating.
• Visa reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings with an EPS of $2.98, exceeding analyst predictions, and has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, reflecting a 0.7% yield.

Aviso Financial Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 283,225 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,392 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 4.9% of Aviso Financial Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Aviso Financial Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $99,259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in Visa in the first quarter worth about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Macquarie upped their price objective on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock opened at $344.44 on Monday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $265.23 and a one year high of $375.51. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $350.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $347.44. The company has a market cap of $631.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given 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 payout ratio is 23.05%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 75,100 shares of company stock worth $27,643,224 over the last three months. 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.

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