Visa Inc. $V Stake Lowered by Covea Finance

Covea Finance cut its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 179,772 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 19,091 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 2.1% of Covea Finance’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Covea Finance’s holdings in Visa were worth $61,371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Define Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.0% during the third quarter. Define Financial LLC now owns 779 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.5% during the third quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. now owns 21,983 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,505,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Raub Brock Capital Management LP boosted its position in Visa by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raub Brock Capital Management LP now owns 37,751 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,019,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 236,039 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $80,579,000 after acquiring an additional 18,192 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,175,152 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $355.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $646.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $338.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $344.13. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $299.00 and a 52-week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $402.52.

About Visa

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.