Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Westpac Banking Corp

Westpac Banking Corp decreased its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 9.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,822 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 4,175 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up 1.0% of Westpac Banking Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $13,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at about $56,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 75,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,643,224 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on V. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup began coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.84.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $335.94 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $615.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $258.74 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $352.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $347.30.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 58.93% and a net margin of 52.16%. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.05%.

About Visa

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.