EP Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 33,881 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 279,884 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,881 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $99,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $57,711,249,000 after buying an additional 1,461,575 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,253,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,631 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its stake in Visa by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,769,936,000 after acquiring an additional 2,429,996 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Visa by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,654,189,000 after acquiring an additional 726,299 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $347.83 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $299.00 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $337.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $345.34. The firm has a market cap of $633.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.82.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.The company had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,117. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,175,152. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $425.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price target on Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.52.

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.