Amalgamated Bank Boosts Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 377,245 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 38,965 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 0.9% of Amalgamated Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Amalgamated Bank's holdings in Visa were worth $103,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,263 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $632,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Visa by 46.9% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 50,328 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $14,046,000 after acquiring an additional 16,078 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth about $5,681,000. Liberty Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa during the first quarter worth about $5,333,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. increased its position in Visa by 6.5% during the first quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 7,557 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,109,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V traded up $11.95 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $305.24. 3,227,582 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,022,505. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $240.97 and a 12-month high of $309.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $556.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.95. The business's fifty day moving average price is $281.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $273.97.

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. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. William Blair upgraded shares of Visa to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Visa from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $317.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $321.74.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Visa 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.