First Western Trust Bank Sells 616 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

First Western Trust Bank trimmed its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,963 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 616 shares during the period. Visa makes up about 0.6% of First Western Trust Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Visa were worth $11,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,717,000. Markel Corp increased its holdings in Visa by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 961,105 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $213,144,000 after purchasing an additional 3,065 shares during the period. AMI Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter worth $2,323,000. Ergoteles LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter worth $538,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Visa during the 1st quarter worth $1,496,000. 81.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.14, for a total value of $9,445,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 139,854 shares in the company, valued at $33,025,123.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $1,956,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.14, for a total value of $9,445,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 139,854 shares in the company, valued at $33,025,123.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 72,100 shares of company stock worth $17,368,639. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Visa from $266.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Visa from $296.00 to $293.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 9th. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price target on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Visa from $265.00 to $290.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.67.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $247.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,816,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,012,569. The firm has a market capitalization of $461.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.95. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $202.13 and a 1-year high of $250.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The company’s 50-day moving average is $238.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $236.26.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The credit-card processor reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.10. Visa had a return on equity of 50.13% and a net margin of 52.90%. The company had revenue of $8.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.9 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 8th. Visa’s payout ratio is 25.09%.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc operates as a payments technology company worldwide. 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, click to pay; Visa Direct, a real-time payments network; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral B2B cross-border payments network; Visa Treasury as a Service, a cross-border consumer payments business; 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.