Visa Inc. $V Stake Reduced by NS Partners Ltd

NS Partners Ltd reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 143,029 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 9,070 shares during the period. Visa accounts for approximately 2.1% of NS Partners Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. NS Partners Ltd’s holdings in Visa were worth $49,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CMH Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.8% in the second quarter. CMH Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,954 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,532,000 after buying an additional 599 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd grew its stake in Visa by 12.1% in the second quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 628,679 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $215,693,000 after purchasing an additional 68,000 shares in the last quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 1.6% in the second quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 53,375 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $18,312,000 after buying an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 106.3% during the 2nd quarter. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. now owns 2,080 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the second quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC now owns 25,208 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,649,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 49,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,125,140.14. The trade was a 53.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm’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 sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,634 shares of company stock worth $34,537,016. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $416.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Visa from $387.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $427.00 target price (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $416.62.

Visa Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE V opened at $379.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $676.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $360.10 and its 200 day moving average is $331.83. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $385.57.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.79%.

Visa Company Profile

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.