AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Lowers Stake in Visa Inc. $V

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 268,552 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 28,199 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.2% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Visa were worth $95,263,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,518,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,677,088 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Visa by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,847,953,000 after buying an additional 1,651,954 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $373,240,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,003,569,000 after buying an additional 955,392 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on V. Macquarie increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $389.00.

Visa Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE V opened at $341.90 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $344.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $346.83. The company has a market capitalization of $626.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $280.78 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The business’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Visa 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.