Visa Inc. $V Stock Sold by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 874,933 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 37,767 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.3% of King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $314,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. XXEC Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 153,118.8% in the 2nd quarter. XXEC Inc. now owns 186,260,448 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $63,904,097,000 after buying an additional 186,138,883 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the second quarter valued at $1,435,262,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Visa by 13.0% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 15,720,068 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,393,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,808,496 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Visa by 33.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,486,927 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,356,090,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Visa by 16.5% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 7,714,919 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,646,911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,315 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Visa from $440.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Visa from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on Visa from $420.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $445.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Mizuho set a $440.00 price target on Visa in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have given a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $443.35.

Visa Stock Up 0.6%

Visa stock opened at $425.56 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $388.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.16. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $442.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $759.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.04. Visa had a return on equity of 70.50% and a net margin of 51.20%. The business had revenue of $12.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 15.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 25.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total value of $773,377.80. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,018,365.40. The trade was a 9.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total transaction of $2,161,236.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,582,059.38. The trade was a 27.91% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,262 shares of company stock worth $11,195,791. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Visa

Visa Inc. operates a global payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. Its network supports the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payments, including transactions made in person and online. The company’s services include payment processing, fraud prevention, identity and risk management, and money-transfer solutions such as Visa Direct. Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards are issued by participating financial institutions; Visa generally provides the network and related services rather than issuing cards or extending credit directly to consumers.