Mechanics Bank Trust Department Sells 1,802 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Mechanics Bank Trust Department reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 5.4%, selling 1,802 shares and now holding 31,479 shares, which represent 1.6% of its investment portfolio valued at approximately $11.18 million.
• Despite this reduction, multiple institutional investors have increased their holdings in Visa, with notable increases from Fjarde AP Fonden and UBS AM, indicating continued confidence in the company.
• Visa reported better-than-expected earnings for the last quarter, with an earnings per share (EPS) of $2.98, surpassing estimates of $2.85, and quarterly revenue of $10.17 billion, reflecting a 14.3% year-over-year increase.

Mechanics Bank Trust Department decreased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 5.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,479 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,802 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 1.6% of Mechanics Bank Trust Department's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Mechanics Bank Trust Department's holdings in Visa were worth $11,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 14.5% in the 1st 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. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $22,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,484 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 7.2% in the 1st 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 valued at $5,003,569,000 after purchasing an additional 955,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.96.

Visa Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $338.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $345.41 and a 200 day moving average of $346.32. The firm has a market cap of $620.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.07, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $268.23 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% 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.

Visa Company 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.

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