First Western Trust Bank Decreases Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

First Western Trust Bank reduced its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,963 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 616 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.6% of First Western Trust Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $11,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Graham Capital Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth about $299,862,000. Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Kalos Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC raised its stake in Visa by 666.7% during the first quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 230 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Visa during the second quarter worth about $64,000. 81.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.47, for a total transaction of $2,016,880.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 15,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $3,950,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,030,321.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.47, for a total transaction of $2,016,880.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 72,100 shares of company stock worth $17,368,639. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded down $1.92 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $247.64. 3,816,169 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,012,569. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $202.13 and a fifty-two week high of $250.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $461.07 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $238.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $236.26.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The credit-card processor reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.56 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.90% and a return on equity of 50.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 8th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on V. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $273.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on shares of Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, October 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $266.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Visa from $265.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.67.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc operates as a payments technology company worldwide. 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, click to pay; Visa Direct, a real-time payments network; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral B2B cross-border payments network; Visa Treasury as a Service, a cross-border consumer payments business; 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.