Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Cuts Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 38.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,774 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 45,764 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.2% of Alpha Cubed Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $25,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Davidson Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Visa by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors now owns 89,395 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $31,329,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,475 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $867,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Planning Directions Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter worth $857,000. Capital Management Associates Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 93.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc now owns 2,418 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $847,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,218 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,333,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Macquarie cut their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.84.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V stock traded up $2.35 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $356.90. The company had a trading volume of 7,295,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,839,065. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock's 50-day moving average is $356.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $658.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.