Visa Inc. $V Position Increased by Westerkirk Capital Inc.

Westerkirk Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 19.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,338 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,285 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.8% of Westerkirk Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Westerkirk Capital Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $18,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,411,395,000 after acquiring an additional 388,996 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,463,484,000 after acquiring an additional 193,288 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,516,371 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,547,169,000 after acquiring an additional 244,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $5,877,738,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. The trade was a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Trading Down 1.3%

Visa stock opened at $319.51 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $316.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $573.12 billion, a PE ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price objective for the company. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.78.

Visa Company Profile

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.