Westpac Banking Corp Sells 5,118 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Westpac Banking Corp reduced its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 11.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,798 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 5,118 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.9% of Westpac Banking Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Visa were worth $13,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,522,000 after buying an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,733,000 after acquiring an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its position in Visa by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its stake in Visa by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 231,510 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $82,198,000 after purchasing an additional 11,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $313.02 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $334.19 and its 200 day moving average is $338.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $568.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.79. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $299.00 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The business had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 25.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,282,641.18. This represents a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on V shares. Evercore set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 target price on Visa in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $391.43.

About Visa

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.