Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s 10th Largest Position

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 54.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 73,018 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,647 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 1.7% of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,895,015,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 787.1% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,619,881 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,296,820,000 after buying an additional 4,099,122 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth $511,321,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 40.1% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 5,990,634 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,671,866,000 after buying an additional 1,715,686 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 14,306.3% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,500,270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $390,595,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.6 %

V stock traded down $1.53 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $269.19. 5,392,844 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,148,934. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $265.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.18. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.78 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $492.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The firm had revenue of $8.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on V. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Visa from $321.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.50.

Visa Company Profile

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.