Independence Bank of Kentucky Acquires 3,112 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 27,168 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,112 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for 1.6% of Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Worth Asset Management LLC increased its position in Visa by 27.2% during the 3rd quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,903 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,098,000 after buying an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT increased its position in Visa by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 65,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $18,092,000 after buying an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. Westwind Capital increased its position in Visa by 726.0% during the 3rd quarter. Westwind Capital now owns 116,917 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,146,000 after buying an additional 102,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,265,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of V stock traded down $1.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $275.82. 232,613 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,105,921. The firm has a market capitalization of $502.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $273.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $272.75. Visa Inc. has a 52-week low of $228.03 and a 52-week high of $293.07.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $8.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $322.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $318.00 target price on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.04.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.