Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Sells 86,752 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. significantly reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 85.6%, selling 86,752 shares during the second quarter, leaving it with 14,637 shares valued at approximately $5.2 million.
• Visa Inc. announced its recent quarterly earnings, reporting $2.98 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and a revenue increase of 14.3% year-over-year to $10.17 billion.
• Visa's stock price experienced a 3.1% drop, with its current trading value around $335.01 and a significant interest from institutional investors, who own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 85.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,637 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 86,752 shares during the quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.'s holdings in Visa were worth $5,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 82.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 83.1% during the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $183,815.10. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price target (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $410.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $408.00 price target (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $389.00.

Visa Stock Down 3.1%

NYSE:V opened at $335.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $614.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.72, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.90. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $280.78 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company's fifty day moving average price is $344.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $346.87. 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 (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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