Westpac Banking Corp Has $11.09 Million Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Westpac Banking Corp lowered its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,331 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,655 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 0.7% of Westpac Banking Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $11,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. G&S Capital LLC lifted its position in Visa by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 761 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,189 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. NerdWallet Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. NerdWallet Wealth Partners LLC now owns 695 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Planned Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frederick Financial Consultants LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on V shares. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Visa from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings raised Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Clear Str raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 target price on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.58.

Visa Stock Up 1.5%

Visa stock opened at $371.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $373.97. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $353.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $329.64. The company has a market cap of $662.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 22.79%.

Visa announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 90,759 shares of company stock valued at $32,375,779. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.