Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is Westwind Capital’s Largest Position

Westwind Capital decreased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,701 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 1,216 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 7.9% of Westwind Capital’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Westwind Capital’s holdings in Visa were worth $36,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the third quarter valued at $731,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $616,000. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth about $7,987,000. Chicago Capital LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 5.2% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $111,331,000 after acquiring an additional 20,023 shares during the period. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC lifted its holdings in Visa by 5,034.0% in the third quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 56,371 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,499,000 after acquiring an additional 55,273 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V traded down $1.17 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $311.87. The stock had a trading volume of 3,232,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,800,548. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $310.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $286.01. The company has a market cap of $580.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $252.70 and a 52-week high of $321.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Visa from $325.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $329.70.

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.