Visa Inc. $V Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 15.7%, ending with 4,863 shares valued at approximately $1.7 million.
• Visa's quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $2.98 EPS and revenue of $10.17 billion, reflecting a 14.3% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.7%.

AlphaQuest LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 15.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,863 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 904 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $1,704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 5.7% during the first quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $306,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in Visa by 14.5% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $159,523,000 after buying an additional 57,800 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 182,658 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $57,727,000 after buying an additional 30,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,127 shares of company stock worth $28,340,553. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE V opened at $349.3180 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $265.31 and a one year high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $640.23 billion, a PE ratio of 34.11, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $347.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $347.40.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%.The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.84.

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.

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