Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Royal Bank of Canada lowered its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 17.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,750,913 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 2,960,924 shares during the period. Visa makes up approximately 0.9% of Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,345,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $361.87 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54. The firm has a market cap of $672.27 billion, a PE ratio of 36.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average is $337.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $328.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

V has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.