Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by Boston Common Asset Management LLC

Boston Common Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 93,661 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 6,870 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.9% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $33,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Talbot Financial LLC raised its position in Visa by 17.7% during the second quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 62,847 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $22,314,000 after acquiring an additional 9,456 shares during the period. Financial Insights Inc. raised its position in Visa by 2.8% during the second quarter. Financial Insights Inc. now owns 2,604 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $925,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Diligent Investors LLC raised its position in Visa by 0.6% during the second quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 17,126 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,080,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. raised its position in Visa by 0.4% during the second quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 71,334 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $25,327,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.8% during the second quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 30,787 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,930,000 after buying an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total value of $3,589,015.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,815.10. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of V opened at $351.96 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.01 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $343.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $346.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $645.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.90.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $415.00 target price (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $410.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $389.00.

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.