Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by First Western Trust Bank

First Western Trust Bank lowered its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,991 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 1,354 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.5% of First Western Trust Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. First Western Trust Bank's holdings in Visa were worth $10,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 17,018.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,248,079,000 after buying an additional 3,926,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $21,064,179,000 after acquiring an additional 3,327,977 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock traded up $5.78 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $318.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,577,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,227,282. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $344.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $317.46. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $366.54. The company has a market capitalization of $590.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 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 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $2,930,800.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $355.84.

About Visa

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.