WestEnd Advisors LLC Has $39.41 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

WestEnd Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 151,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,258 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 1.1% of WestEnd Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. WestEnd Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $39,405,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa by 1.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 74,133,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $17,605,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,891 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Visa by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 51,122,866 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,621,287,000 after purchasing an additional 5,864,340 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 116,608.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,504,130 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,090,978,000 after purchasing an additional 24,483,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Visa by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 18,879,347 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,483,466,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,104 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on V. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, December 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.82.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $279.59. 2,670,151 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,597,521. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $513.47 billion, a PE ratio of 32.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $216.14 and a one year high of $290.96. The company’s 50 day moving average is $278.86 and its 200 day moving average is $258.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.18 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,716,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,311 shares of company stock worth $12,832,129. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa 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.