Mechanics Bank Trust Department Buys 1,013 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department boosted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,859 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.4% of Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Visa were worth $10,701,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 2.8% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 21,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,699,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 821,886 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $215,720,000 after purchasing an additional 141,036 shares during the last quarter. Tremblant Capital Group raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 41.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tremblant Capital Group now owns 6,542 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,717,000 after buying an additional 1,930 shares in the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth $25,413,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Visa by 927.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 890,739 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $233,792,000 after buying an additional 804,039 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE V opened at $323.76 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $603.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.27, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $313.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.09. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $324.58.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on V shares. Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.92.

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.