Emerald Investment Advisers LLC Grows Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Emerald Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,271 shares during the period. Emerald Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $10,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 867.6% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,880,595,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,762 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 29,706.3% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,216,310,000 after purchasing an additional 7,308,345 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in Visa by 12,497.1% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,184,712,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Visa by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,282,472,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,463 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $427.00 target price (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Visa from $387.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price target (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $406.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.58.

Visa Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE V opened at $371.09 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $373.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $662.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $353.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $329.64.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The firm had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.79%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.