Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Acquired by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 81,263 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,692 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $25,682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Affiance Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 5.4% during the third quarter. Affiance Financial LLC now owns 954 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the third quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 11,221 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,085,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 163,901 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $45,065,000 after buying an additional 1,575 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank increased its position in Visa by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 113,108 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,099,000 after acquiring an additional 3,903 shares during the period. Finally, Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd raised its stake in Visa by 75.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 19,554 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,376,000 after acquiring an additional 8,422 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on V shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.9 %

V stock opened at $351.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $321.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $296.19. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $351.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $652.56 billion, a PE ratio of 35.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

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.