Recent insider trends for Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) have caught the attention of investors. Insider data is useful because it can reveal what a company’s executives and largest shareholders feel about a stock. In this case, the data has some interesting things to say about how V might perform in the future.
Institutions own 94.19% of Visa Inc. (V)’s shares. The total value of these holdings, in millions, is $209,274. Among active positions in the latest quarter, 823 holders increased their positions by a total of 60 million shares, 850 holders decreased the positions by a total of 69.99 million shares, and 220 holders held their positions. This works out to a net decrease in ownership of 9.99 million shares, and suggests that institutions are feeling bearish about the stock.
Among new and sold out positions, 128 holders initiated new positions by a total of 10.03 million shares and 58 holders exited their positions by a total of 3.37 million shares. This nets out to an increase of 6.66 million shares and is a bullish sign for V.
In the last three months, insiders executed a total of 27 trades. 7 of these were buys and 20 were sells. Insider ownership decreased by a total of 209155 shares, which suggests that V’s key executives are feeling less optimistic about the outlook for the stock. The data from the past twelve months tells a similar story: insiders executed 7 buys and 30 sells, and ownership decreased by a net of 476088 shares.
Analysts often look at short interest, or the number of shares currently being shorted by investors, to aid in their outlook for a particular stock. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s short interest is 26.75 million shares, or 1.45% of the float. This represents a decrease of -21% in the number of shares being shorted compared to the previous reading, and implies that investors felt less pessimistic about the stock during the past two weeks.
Insider data can help an investor form an outlook on a stock, but it’s important to supplement this data with other information such as technical indicators to form a more complete view. A composite of 13 technical indicators that includes measures such as moving averages and momentum oscillators suggests that V is a Strong buy, which implies that V is expected to outperform the market based on prior trading patterns.
Conclusion
Institutional ownership trends suggest that the stock is cheap and the insider trading data indicates that insiders are bearish. Technical indicators (also) suggest that Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is undervalued.