Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Trims Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lessened its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,632 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 342 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Visa by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Visa by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,143 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $818,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parker Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 925 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

V stock traded up $4.18 on Monday, reaching $272.67. 3,931,997 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,881,426. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $277.94 and a 200-day moving average of $266.06. The firm has a market cap of $498.70 billion, a PE ratio of 30.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.14 and a twelve month high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,724 shares of company stock worth $3,278,698. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their target price on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.00.

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.