Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 3,469 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Bessemer Group Inc. decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,156,309 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,469 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.8% of Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.17% of Visa worth $1,120,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,452,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,088 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Visa by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,654,189,000 after buying an additional 726,299 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,675,220 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,442,157,000 after acquiring an additional 434,217 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,979,720 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,847,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,954 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on V shares. UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Macquarie dropped their target price on Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. 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 target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.00.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,815.10. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the 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 sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of V opened at $340.93 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $624.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 2.05 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 one year low of $287.19 and a one year high of $375.51. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $344.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $348.30.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a return on equity of 60.20% and a net margin of 50.15%.The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.