Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Sells 8,978 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 114,824 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 8,978 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.0% of Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Visa were worth $40,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of V. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its holdings in Visa by 14.5% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $159,523,000 after purchasing an additional 57,800 shares in the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $862,000. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC now owns 62,890 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $22,040,000 after buying an additional 3,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NatWest Group plc raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 43.8% during the second quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 45,660 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $16,212,000 after acquiring an additional 13,912 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $334.70 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $340.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $347.61. The stock has a market cap of $609.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.87. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $299.00 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,117. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. The trade was a 7.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,175,152. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on V. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Macquarie reduced their price objective on Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.