Allianz SE Sells 9,865 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Allianz SE reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 8.4% in the first quarter, selling 9,865 shares, bringing its total holdings to 107,826 shares valued at approximately $37.79 million.
• CEO Ryan Mcinerney and insider Paul D. Fabara sold a combined total of 20,266 shares recently, indicating significant insider activity which reflects a decrease of over 30% in their respective ownership positions.
• Visa has reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.98, surpassing analysts' expectations, with a revenue increase of 14.3% year-over-year, now projected to post 11.3 EPS for the fiscal year.

Allianz SE lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 8.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 107,826 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 9,865 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up about 1.0% of Allianz SE's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Allianz SE's holdings in Visa were worth $37,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of V. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth $54,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 167 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V traded down $6.66 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $338.81. The stock had a trading volume of 8,655,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,179,344. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $254.51 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $355.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $625.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Visa Company 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.