Northwest Financial Advisors Cuts Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Northwest Financial Advisors decreased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 38.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,088 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,303 shares during the period. Visa comprises 1.0% of Northwest Financial Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Northwest Financial Advisors’ holdings in Visa were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the first quarter valued at $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 82.0% during the second quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $341.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $625.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.41, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day moving average is $344.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $348.31. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $287.19 and a 1-year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. Visa’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 EPS. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.11%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on V. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $408.00 target price (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.00.

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.