Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Trims Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,061,482 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 99,958 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 0.9% of Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned 0.06% of Visa worth $291,854,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,263 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $632,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth $397,000. PGGM Investments lifted its holdings in Visa by 7.4% during the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 204,034 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,942,000 after purchasing an additional 14,092 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Visa by 303.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 652,881 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $182,206,000 after purchasing an additional 491,179 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 57.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 167,187 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $46,659,000 after purchasing an additional 61,141 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $314.65 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $290.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $251.61 and a 1 year high of $316.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $586.15 billion, a PE ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $339.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.74.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. The trade was a 94.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.