Nicholas Company Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Nicholas Company Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 26.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 196,200 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 70,010 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 1.2% of Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $69,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of V. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,518,533,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 valued at $3,847,953,000 after buying an additional 1,651,954 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $373,240,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 7.2% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.00.

Visa Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE V opened at $336.74 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $290.76 and a one year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $344.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $348.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $617.17 billion, a PE ratio of 32.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.87.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Visa

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.