Osterweis Capital Management Inc. Reduces Position in Visa Inc. $V

Osterweis Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,963 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 8,729 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 0.0% of Osterweis Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Osterweis Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $48,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of V. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Macquarie lifted their target price on Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 1.5%

Visa stock opened at $343.28 on Friday. 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 $268.23 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a market cap of $629.16 billion, a PE ratio of 33.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $347.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $347.03.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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.