WBI Investments LLC Lowers Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• WBI Investments LLC significantly reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 77.1% during the first quarter, holding 1,821 shares worth $638,000 after selling 6,142 shares.
• CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares at an average price of $353.82, marking a 94.14% decrease in his ownership of Visa stock.
• Visa reported a 14.3% increase in quarterly revenue on a year-over-year basis, with earnings per share of $2.98 beating analyst estimates of $2.85.

WBI Investments LLC trimmed its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 77.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,821 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 6,142 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC lifted its position in Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,265,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank lifted its position in Visa by 0.9% during the first quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 3,372 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Visa by 0.8% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 3,839 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $1,345,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Visa stock traded down $4.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $339.33. The stock had a trading volume of 3,516,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,916,709. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $347.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $346.94. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $268.23 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $621.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $10.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. The business's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on V shares. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report 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. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 target price (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, 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. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Visa

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.