Westerkirk Capital Inc. Buys Shares of 39,766 Visa Inc. $V

Westerkirk Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 39,766 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $14,119,000. Visa accounts for 1.7% of Westerkirk Capital Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $57,711,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461,575 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 2.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,253,245,000 after buying an additional 1,067,631 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Visa during the second quarter worth about $7,034,939,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Visa by 4.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,654,189,000 after purchasing an additional 726,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 7.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 14,277,146 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V opened at $330.41 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $299.00 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $339.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $346.93. The firm has a market cap of $601.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.82.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on V. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 price target (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Macquarie lowered their price target on Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Four research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 24,042 shares of company stock worth $8,175,152 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Profile

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.