Fernbridge Capital Management LP Lowers Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Fernbridge Capital Management LP lowered its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 43.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,391 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 46,228 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.0% of Fernbridge Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Fernbridge Capital Management LP’s holdings in Visa were worth $16,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 970.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its position in Visa by 211.9% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This represents a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $311.82 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $290.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $277.80. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $251.61 and a 52-week high of $314.50. The firm has a market cap of $580.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $317.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.74.

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.