World Equity Group Inc. Sells 1,581 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

World Equity Group Inc. lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 18.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,057 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,581 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $2,444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $306,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 19.8% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group grew its position in shares of Visa by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $23,663,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 2.5% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 101,098 shares of company stock worth $36,738,526. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Visa Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $338.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $351.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $338.74. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $375.51. The company has a market capitalization of $623.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on V. Macquarie reduced their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, June 13th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.80.

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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