Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Reduces Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,407 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,751 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Visa were worth $24,998,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of V. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter worth about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 82.0% in the second quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V opened at $347.71 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $637.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $344.89 and a 200 day moving average of $348.09. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $281.35 and a twelve month 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on V shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $392.75.

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.