Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:VFree Report) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,633,285 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 905,950 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.9% of Clearbridge Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,326,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of V. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Visa by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $387.78.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Visa

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

Visa Stock Up 1.2%

V opened at $324.03 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $316.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $324.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $581.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.23, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:VGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.34%.

Visa Profile

(Free Report)

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

Further Reading

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Visa (NYSE:V)

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