Royal Bank of Canada Has $4.35 Billion Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Royal Bank of Canada cut its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,750,913 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,960,924 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 0.9% of Royal Bank of Canada's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.74% of Visa worth $4,345,840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Visa by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,927 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,557,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 15,885 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,020,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the period. Community Trust & Investment Co. grew its position in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 124,910 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $39,477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,138 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $9,209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,565 shares during the period. Finally, Rockland Trust Co. raised its position in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 135,938 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $42,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on V. Bank of America upped their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $362.38.

Visa Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of Visa stock traded down $7.23 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $359.61. 2,154,517 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,998,728. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $663.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.32, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $340.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $330.68. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $369.15.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $194,931. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Company 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.