Ieq Capital LLC Sells 22,197 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Ieq Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 10.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 195,446 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 22,197 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $67,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its stake in Visa by 58.1% during the 1st quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,270,000 after buying an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Group grew its stake in Visa by 83.9% in the first quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 22,501 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,801,000 after acquiring an additional 10,267 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC now owns 17,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,254,000 after acquiring an additional 5,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pincus Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,278,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $416.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $412.00 target price (up from $395.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $427.00 target price (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $413.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,125,140.14. This represents a 53.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $371.09 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $662.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $353.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $329.64. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $373.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The business’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.79%.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.