Alkeon Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Alkeon Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Visa by 0.1% in Q1, selling 834 shares, and now holds 1,468,618 shares valued at approximately $514.7 million.
• Visa reported a quarterly earnings result of $2.98 EPS, surpassing estimates, with revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 14.3%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, expected to be paid on September 2nd, representing a 0.7% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 23.05%.

Alkeon Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,468,618 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 834 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 1.1% of Alkeon Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Alkeon Capital Management LLC owned about 0.08% of Visa worth $514,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 161,082,431 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,452,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,088 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Visa by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $6,654,189,000 after acquiring an additional 726,299 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,321,754 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,210,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 3.5% in 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 in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded up $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $350.35. 4,035,793 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,490,003. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $642.11 billion, a PE ratio of 34.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $348.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $347.38. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $268.23 and a 52-week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa 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 transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,507 shares of company stock valued at $25,213,475. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $383.17.

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.