Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Select Equity Group L.P.

Select Equity Group L.P. cut its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 29.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 768,660 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 317,650 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 1.2% of Select Equity Group L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Select Equity Group L.P.’s holdings in Visa were worth $269,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Redwood Financial Network Corp boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.4% in the first quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 1,767 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $619,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,906 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,822,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 36.7% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,307 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Parkwood LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 82.3% during the first quarter. Parkwood LLC now owns 52,949 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $18,556,000 after buying an additional 23,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plancorp LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 20.2% during the first quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 6,520 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,285,000 after buying an additional 1,094 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Down 2.3%

NYSE:V opened at $343.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business’s 50 day moving average is $348.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $347.22. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $268.23 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a market cap of $628.67 billion, a PE ratio of 33.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Macquarie increased their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $408.00 target price (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.96.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,293 shares of company stock worth $8,114,295. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Visa

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.