Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Stock Position 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 disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,750,913 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 2,960,924 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.9% of Royal Bank of Canada's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.74% of Visa worth $4,345,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Visa by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 17,018.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,248,079,000 after buying an additional 3,926,049 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total transaction of $3,020,792.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $188,186.28. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V traded up $2.64 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $367.76. 5,078,923 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,018,383. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $369.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $678.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average of $338.59 and a 200 day moving average of $329.89.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.51 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on V shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $362.38.

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.