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

Emerald Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 8.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,271 shares during the quarter. Emerald Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $10,511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,733,000 after buying an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its holdings in Visa by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Visa by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,521,000 after buying an additional 2,230 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. This represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 90,759 shares of company stock valued at $32,375,779 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $371.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Visa Inc. has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $373.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $353.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $329.64. The company has a market cap of $662.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 22.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on V. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $416.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $412.00 price objective (up from $395.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Visa from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $413.58.

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.