Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Edgewood Management LLC

Edgewood Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,623,117 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 422,324 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 6.3% of Edgewood Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Edgewood Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $1,996,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at $7,034,939,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth about $3,518,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,452,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,088 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Visa by 17.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,847,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,253,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,631 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the company’s 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 owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,175,152 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:V opened at $334.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $609.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $339.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $347.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $299.00 and a 12-month high of $375.51.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Macquarie decreased their target price on Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group set a $425.00 price target on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank cut Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.00.

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.