Webster Bank N. A. Increases Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Webster Bank N. A. increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 43,445 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 709 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises approximately 1.4% of Webster Bank N. A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Visa were worth $12,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth about $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on V shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total transaction of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total transaction of $7,009,954.95. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 34,402 shares of company stock valued at $9,559,382. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $262.47 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $273.50. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.68 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $480.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

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.