Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. Reduces Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. trimmed its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 73,302 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,386 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 6.8% of Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $25,689,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Detalus Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 38.4% in the first quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 3,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares in the last quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP boosted its stake in Visa by 2.5% in the first quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP now owns 1,276 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Alterna Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 3.8% in the first quarter. Alterna Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,930 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its stake in Visa by 10.0% in the first quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 990 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet North America Advisors SA boosted its stake in Visa by 2.3% in the first quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 64,142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $22,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on V. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised 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. Five research 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, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.84.

Visa Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $358.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $661.86 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.92. 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 fifty day moving average price of $355.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $340.96. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $252.70 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released 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. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.51 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $3,127,077.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,807.49. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 92,478 shares of company stock worth $33,717,733. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.