Westpac Banking Corp Trims Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Westpac Banking Corp reduced its stake in Visa Inc. by 9.5%, now holding 39,822 shares valued at approximately $13.96 million, making Visa the 14th largest position in its portfolio.
• Visa reported strong earnings for the last quarter, with $2.98 earnings per share surpassing expectations and a 14.3% increase in revenue year-over-year, totaling $10.17 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, set to be paid on September 2nd, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.7%.

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 9.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,822 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 4,175 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.0% of Westpac Banking Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Visa were worth $13,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of V. Iyo Bank Ltd. increased its stake in Visa by 7.3% during the first quarter. Iyo Bank Ltd. now owns 34,176 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $11,977,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the period. Tlwm increased its stake in Visa by 2.3% during the first quarter. Tlwm now owns 5,428 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Rossmore Private Capital increased its stake in Visa by 0.8% during the first quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 33,395 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $11,704,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Trajan Wealth LLC increased its stake in Visa by 3.6% during the first quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 74,241 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $26,019,000 after purchasing an additional 2,578 shares during the period. Finally, Core Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Visa by 7.7% during the first quarter. Core Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,606 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V traded up $0.90 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $336.80. 5,682,507 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,302,282. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $351.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $347.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $617.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $258.74 and a 1 year high of $375.51.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $380.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,772,810. This trade represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 75,100 shares of company stock worth $27,643,224 in the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently 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.