Westerkirk Capital Inc. Purchases 8,285 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Westerkirk Capital Inc. grew its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,338 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,285 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 1.8% of Westerkirk Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Westerkirk Capital Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $18,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Everett Harris & Co. CA lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 14,058 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,930,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. X Square Capital LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $1,595,000. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 17,732 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,219,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its holdings in Visa by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 205,089 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $71,927,000 after buying an additional 11,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montis Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Montis Financial LLC now owns 1,572 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Loop Capital started coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $387.78.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $319.51 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $375.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $316.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $324.48. The stock has a market cap of $573.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.34%.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. This represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,744 shares of company stock worth $14,356,010. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.