Pacer Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 36.0% in the first quarter, owning 92,077 shares worth approximately $32.27 million after selling 51,807 shares.
• Visa reported $2.76 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.68, with a revenue of $9.59 billion, up 9.3% year-over-year.
• The company's dividend yield stands at 0.66% with a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, reflecting a 23.72% payout ratio.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 36.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 92,077 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 51,807 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $32,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 5.7% in the first quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $306,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $57,727,000 after purchasing an additional 30,185 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 610,517 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $192,948,000 after purchasing an additional 43,546 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,772,810. The trade was a 63.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Macquarie reduced their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $375.52.

Visa Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:V traded up $2.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $356.93. 3,915,274 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,270,063. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $658.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.92. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $356.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $345.45. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $254.51 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

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.