Commerce Bank Increases Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Commerce Bank boosted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 700,436 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 5,068 shares during the quarter. Visa makes up approximately 1.2% of Commerce Bank's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Commerce Bank's holdings in Visa were worth $192,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Visa by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,263 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $632,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Visa by 16.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 58,506 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $16,328,000 after purchasing an additional 8,086 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Visa by 346.9% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 35,730 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $9,972,000 after buying an additional 27,735 shares during the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $220,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 211,475 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $59,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Visa Price Performance

V stock traded down $5.14 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $306.71. 2,493,789 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,954,504. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $250.03 and a 52 week high of $312.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $558.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $276.63.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Compass Point started coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $319.00 target price for the company. Finally, Macquarie increased their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $321.74.

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.