Wedmont Private Capital Raises Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 30.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 34,628 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,094 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Visa were worth $12,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 58.1% during the first quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after buying an additional 1,543 shares during the last quarter. Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth $829,000. Beacon Financial Group raised its stake in Visa by 83.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 22,501 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,801,000 after acquiring an additional 10,267 shares during the last quarter. Pincus Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $4,278,000. Finally, Explore Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $8,066,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of V opened at $374.46 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $668.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.76. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $385.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $363.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $333.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total value of $773,377.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,018,365.40. This represents a 9.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Tullier Mahon sold 57,272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,125,140.14. The trade was a 53.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,537 shares of company stock worth $37,540,837. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on V. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $466.00 price objective (up from $412.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, August 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $427.00 price target (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $460.00 price objective (up from $435.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $416.62.

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.