Boston Common Asset Management LLC Sells 3,212 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Boston Common Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:VFree Report) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,289 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,212 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.9% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $28,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Invariant Investment Management bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $969,000. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. increased its stake in Visa by 58.1% during the first quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,143,000 after purchasing an additional 6,688 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $15,966,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on V. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 price objective on the stock. Clear Str raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Loop Capital began coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 target price for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $398.36.

View Our Latest Analysis on Visa

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $358.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $643.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.75. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $365.14. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $334.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $324.99.

Visa (NYSE:VGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.11 EPS for the current year.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.34%.

Visa Company 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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